About eight years ago or so I was doing some work with a guy. We were getting to know each other and it turned out he was somewhat of a WWII collector. He told me about this photo he had from Guadalcanal, with some signatures. I expressed an interest and he said he'd bring it the next day. 

 

This is what he showed up with. The photo itself is a very common photo from Guadalcanal, I've seen it many times. This is signed by (supposedly) by Joe Foss and Roger Haberman. I have no idea what these guys' signatures look like. I know quite a lot about Foss, his autobiography (A Proud American) is a helluva good book. Actually flew through the Joe Foss airport in Sioux Falls this past year.

 

I don't know nearly as much about Haberman. In fact, after acquiring the photo from the guy I set it aside and only looked at it a time or two since then. I only just now figured out that the other signature was Haberman, in order to put this post up. 

 

Anyway, any opinions as to whether these signatures are authentic? I gave the guy $25 for the photo, not because I thought it was worth that, but because I was currying some favor with him. P.S., I don't usually curry favor, especially with cash!

Original Foss autographs 

 

The one on my photo doesn't appear to be the real deal!

8 minutes ago, Gyrene1978 said:

The one on my photo doesn't appear to be the real deal!

I agree

I'm flying out to L.A. and hunting that bastard down! I remember his first name was Charlie...should be pretty easy, with that as a clue. 

I’ve spent much more on copies.

I was fortunate to have obtained my Joe Foss autographs from Joe himself.  So far, I have collected 112 MOH autographs personally from the men themselves (over the past 45 years), as well as nearly 50 RK recipients and over 4500+ distinguished veterans of all nations.  I even managed to get 950+ autographs during the 50th of Pearl Harbor (at least 1 Sailor and Marine from every ship in the harbor and personnel from each base on the island) and 127 from the 50th of Market Garden (Peter was there too).  I rarely will accept an autograph I did not get personal, and as such have only purchased a few over the years.

....I accidentally hit post before adding:  Thus, having a good experience with autographs, and have a few of Joe's, I do not believe that the autograph on the Aircraft Photo is original/real. 

5 hours ago, HistoricalConFLIX said:

....I accidentally hit post before adding:  Thus, having a good experience with autographs, and have a few of Joe's, I do not believe that the autograph on the Aircraft Photo is original/real. 

Thanks for the opinion, I agree.

 

I've only got a few autographs. I think the only one I got personally was Gen. James Mattis, USMC, when his book came out. I had a personalized, autographed copy of Paul Tibbets's book, but my ex wife had bought it for me. Left a bad taste in my mouth, so I sold it. I also have an autographed copy of Ensign George Gay's book. He was the sole survivor of Torpedo 8 squadron at the Battle of Midway. I don't think it's worth much, as near as I can tell he signed a helluva lot of them. 

7 hours ago, HistoricalConFLIX said:

I was fortunate to have obtained my Joe Foss autographs from Joe himself.  So far, I have collected 112 MOH autographs personally from the men themselves (over the past 45 years), as well as nearly 50 RK recipients and over 4500+ distinguished veterans of all nations.  I even managed to get 950+ autographs during the 50th of Pearl Harbor (at least 1 Sailor and Marine from every ship in the harbor and personnel from each base on the island) and 127 from the 50th of Market Garden (Peter was there too).  I rarely will accept an autograph I did not get personal, and as such have only purchased a few over the years.

I remember that trip in 1994 very well.

 

I had a copy of Band of Brothers and filled it with veteran autographs.

 

Thats the last time we spent any time together.

 

As for my old autograph collection I unwillingly donated it to my ex wife, God bless her, she threw them out not aware of what she had.

 

I have a few now that have come in groups I’ve acquired in the past couple years.

 

 

10 hours ago, Gyrene1978 said:

Thanks for the opinion, I agree.

 

I've only got a few autographs. I think the only one I got personally was Gen. James Mattis, USMC, when his book came out. I had a personalized, autographed copy of Paul Tibbets's book, but my ex wife had bought it for me. Left a bad taste in my mouth, so I sold it. I also have an autographed copy of Ensign George Gay's book. He was the sole survivor of Torpedo 8 squadron at the Battle of Midway. I don't think it's worth much, as near as I can tell he signed a helluva lot of them. 

Coincidentally, you just named the one autograph that I do not have, but have wanted for a while...  Ensign George Gay!  lol  Any chance you might consider parting with it?

I'm afraid not, it's a part of my book collection. Look online, when I bought his book 8 or so years ago signed copies were abundant. 

Here's my Joe Foss, I got it myself at a Christian Sportsman Dinner. He spoke about WWII, and I believe he talked about twice being shot down.

Nice! He was one of the all time greats. If you haven't read his autobiography I highly recommend it. 

Thought I'd throw these tidbits into the mix since I've been going through my old Life Mags lately.  Also of note, as you can see from Manayunkman's pics he was also hired as the Commissioner of the fledgling American Football League two days prior to their initial draft! That is a super interesting story too for any of you football fans.

 

 

45 minutes ago, SoCalvin said:

Thought I'd throw these tidbits into the mix since I've been going through my old Life Mags lately.  Also of note, as you can see from Manayunkman's pics he was also hired as the Commissioner of the fledgling American Football League two days prior to their initial draft! That is a super interesting story too for any of you football fans.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pics! Yeah, his autobiography tells all about that. I forget exactly how the story goes, but I think it is arguable that he 'created' the Super Bowl.