One of the last surviving Marine fighter pilots of World War II, who engaged in aerial dogfights and shot down two Japanese bomber planes, died on Saturday in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He passed away at the age of 103.
The Village at Sherman Oaks is a retirement community.
Lieutenant Folsom had never flown at high altitude and had only fired his wing guns once in a training exercise, but he was part of the team that captured Guadalcanal in the late summer and fall of 1942.
He loved flying and was sent into the thick of air combat over Guadalcanal in the first major Allied land offensive since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Zeros were escorted by the Imperial Navy's cigar-shaped "Betty bombers" which were his squadron's main targets.
Half of his squadron's pilots were killed or wounded during his three-month stay on the island. In dogfights, the faster, more maneuverable Zeros often shoot at his plane. He was wounded by a bullet and by a bomb. He was able to escape when he ran out of bullets by flying into the clouds and returning to his small airfield.
Lieutenant Folsom killed a Zero in a dogfight. He said in an oral presentation that the sky was filled with tumbling aircraft. I saw a Zero burst into flames. There was a bird in front of me. The pilot jumped over him.
He said that a Zero overshot and was in front of him. He had the speed advantage but didn't know how to use it. I followed him out of the fight and fired at his plane. The Zero began smoking after more shooting.
He went into a spiral dive and disappeared into a cloud at about 3,000 feet.
Everyone knew the outcome. He said that not having seen him explode or crash was not a confirmed victory.
His most successful day was the day after. He spotted a group of bombers far below, skimming the ocean surface for a torpedo attack on a flotilla of American ships.
Mr. Folsom said that they went down in a scream. The surface vessels were firing a lot of fire. He leveled off just over the water, pulled in behind an enemy bomber and started shooting. The bomber fired back. He said that the guns in that baby winked at him.
The pilot skimmed in from about 10 feet off the surface after some of my slugs hit him. I was over him after a sudden lurch, followed by a cloud of spray. This fellow didn't fall into the trap that I followed again. He skidded from side to side.
The bomber kept going despite one of the engines smoking. He said that he hit him with the last of his bullets. I was rewarded when he hit the water for keeps. The plane flew into the air. He later learned that many of the bombs had been shot down. The Americans had lost planes.
The Japanese abandoned their efforts to regain Guadalcanal in February 1943. 4,200 Americans were wounded and 1,600 were killed when the battle ended. More than 30,000 of Japan's most experienced ground troops and fliers have died in the last decade.
Guadalcanal marked the Allies' transition from defensive to offensive operations in the Pacific, securing a base in the Solomon Islands for attacks on Japanese strongholds.
Lieutenant Folsom, who was awarded the Purple Heart, went on to command night fighter squadrons in battles over Okinawa and the Korean War. He worked at the American Embassy in Norway for two years and was a high-altitude test pilot. He was a lieutenant colonel when he retired.
On July 24, 1920, Samuel and May Folsom had a son named Samuel Bruce Folsom Jr. In infancy, Samuel was adopted by an uncle and aunt, Frank and Florence Lindsey, who raised him in Massachusetts. Mother and other relatives raised May and Charles in upstate New York.
Samuel was commissioned an ensign after attending the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He got a transfer to flight training with the Marines after serving on a Navy oiler in the Atlantic for a short time. After graduating from flight school, he was commissioned a second lieutenant.
He only flew F4F fighters for 25 hours before he was sent to Guadalcanal, because there were only 20 of them available.
He said that none of the second lieutenants had ever worn an oxygen mask. The experience was limited. It wasn't very well known. We did go.
Barbara Cole is the wife of Mr. Folsom. He is survived by their daughter and three grandsons.
The chairman of Pan American World Airways, Juan Trippe, hired Mr. Folsom to assist in the development of New York's helicopter and heliport industries. He was the executive in charge of real estate on the east coast.
The popular Midtown tourist destination on the Hudson has a volunteer named Mr. Folsom who lived in Manhattan for a long time.
When he was 77, he entered a bank on the Upper West Side and found a robbery going on. He ran out and helped the police subdue the suspect by pinning his arm to the floor. The thief had something in his hand. The loot blew away on Broadway.
Mr. Folsom was invited to a police ball by the actor Harvey Keitel.
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