Foster, Arthur Paisley

Father of WWII drivers Francis Arthur Foster (1920-2001) and James McDougal Foster (1921-2002).

The Field Service ambulances with the New Zealand 5th Brigade and the 132nd Infantry Brigade worked back to the 4th ADS. A. P. Foster (a member of SSU 17 in World War I, whose two sons joined him in the AFS in World War II) was with the advancing column of 132nd Brigade. Although fairly deaf, he had insisted on being assigned to an RAP. What happened to him the night of 3/4 September is still uncertain. During a halt in the advance, he and his orderly got out from either side of his ambulance. The orderly never saw Foster again, and shortly thereafter the ambulance was blown up. Later the MO's batman reported that he had seen Foster lying on the ground beside the ambulance, presumably taking cover from the intense gunfire, and then during a let-up running toward the enemy line, presumably in response to a cry for help from a wounded soldier. When he did not reappear, it was hoped that he might have been captured. Some days later, however, it was reported at his platoon headquarters that his silver identification bracelet had been picked up on the battlefield. His body was never found, and he was never reported a prisoner. Regretfully, Arthur Paisley Foster was listed as "missing, presumed dead."

__ George Rock. Chapter 3. "Middle East 1. Tobruk to El Alamein (November 1941 to September 1942)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.

While 15 Company was forming, 11 Company continued to operate in the desert. On the night of September 3-4, Arthur Foster was lost. He and his son Jim formed the only father-and-son team in the AFS. Jim was a member of the attachment working with the Fighting French. Jim's father, after serving a time in Syria, came to the desert while the company was re-forming at Tanta. In September he went to the front with his section and was attached to a brigade that was being heavily engaged by the enemy. The regimental aid post to which Mr. Foster was assigned was hit by a shell, and the medical officer and orderlies were killed. It is also believed---this was a night action---that Foster's ambulance was hit by the same or subsequent shells. Neither he nor his vehicle has been seen since that hour.

__ Andrew Geer. Mercy in Hell. An American Ambulance Driver with the Eighth Army. McGraw Hill, New York 1943.

One of the chaps in our section was missing ---believed killed --- after recent action. His name was Arthur Foster --- an older man --- who had come over here in the Field Service. I was always afraid something like this might happen, since he was fairly deaf and probably couldn't hear something coming in time to duck. Nevertheless, he insisted on being up at an R.A.P., so our officers couldn't very well keep him back.

__ AFS Letters No. 9