Age 25. 61 Main Street, Norfolk, MA. Born on 3/13/1917, in Somerville, MA. Died of burns (death certificate). Seaman, 1st class, U.S. Naval Reserve, assigned to the Boston Navy Yard. Reported in The Evening Gazette, Worcester, MA, 12/01/1942, that actual death occurred at the Chelsea Naval Hospital, in Chelsea, MA. Was at the club with his fiancée Miss Marie Derry, age 22, of Beacon Hill (Boston), dead. "The engagement of Miss Derry to Foss was announced last October 24 at the Derrys' country home at Mendon, Mass....The marriage was to have taken place January 9" (The Detroit News, Detroit, MI, 11/30/1942). His remains were identified on Sunday by his family and military physician Dr. G. Hermann Derry (First Naval District inquest transcript, 11/30/1942, of Seaman Foss: "He was known to have been at the Cocoanut Grove with a sister of Dr. Derry"). Was raised in Norfolk. Was a graduate of Walpole High School, Walpole, MA. Attended Northeastern University and the School of Accounting at Boston University. Navy enlistment the past March. Was previously a bookkeeper, will trustees (1940 federal census). Member of the Board of Auditors, Town of Norfolk. Also a Sunday School teacher at Federated Church of Norfolk. Was the lone victim from the quiet Norfolk County town of Norfolk. His hometown was misreported in some sources as the namesake naval seaport of Norfolk, VA. At 5' 7," 128 lbs. (WWII draft registration, October '40) ranked among the lightest of male disaster victims. Parents Mr. and Mrs. William A. and Elizabeth C. (Coburn) Foss, same address. Burial with military honors at the Coburn family lot, Edgell Grove Cemetery, Framingham, MA. Middle name Parker.

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