Senior Master Sergeant Foster was living in Knoxville, TX when he entered the service and was a member of the 606th Air Commando Squadron, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Airfield, Thailand.

On December 29, 1967, he was a crew member of a Douglas Counter Invader Attack Aircraft (A-26A) on a mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Laos. The aircraft was hit by hostile fire when it was about 15 miles northwest of Sepone, Savannakhet Province due west of the Demilitarized Zone and crashed.

His remains were recovered on March 17, 1993 and identified on October 18, 1995.

His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.