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He enlisted in the United States Navy on Jan. 31, 1897, 16 months before the United States would officially enter the Spanish American War. He was assigned as a seaman on the light cruiser USS Marblehead, and on May 11, 1898, Seaman Foss and his shipmates, while engaging the enemy off the northwest coast of Cuba, snared the main communications cable; pulled it over the bow of their boat, and with great difficulty, and while under intense enemy fire, somehow managed to sever the cable. Seaman Foss actually finished the job with a simple hacksaw. Many of his shipmates were killed or wounded during this action, but they had successfully disrupted communications between Cuba and Spain.
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