John R. Fox

Soldier

• Born: May 18, 1915
• Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died: December 26, 1944
• Place of death: Sommocolonia, Italy

Fox was one of 1.2 million African Americans to serve in World War II. He gave his life to save Allied troops during a battle in Italy, but his deeds were overlooked for decades. Indeed, more than fifty years passed before Fox’s valor and sacrifice were recognized with the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor.

Early Life

John Robert Fox was born on May 18, 1915, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had two sisters. Fox attended nearby Wilberforce University, the first private institution of higher learning for African Americans in the United States, where he majored in biology and joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). At Wilberforce, he met his future wife, nursing student Arlene Marrow. Fox graduated and received his ROTC commission in 1940. He married Arlene, and the young couple moved to Massachusetts, where Fox trained at Fort Devens in early 1941. Later that year, he passed a rifle and heavy weapons course at the infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1942, Fox and Arlene became parents of a daughter, Sandra.

Life’s Work

By late 1944, Fox was serving in Europe in combat with the 366th Infantry Regiment of the all-black 92d Infantry Division known as the Buffalo soldiers. The day after Christmas in 1944, at age twenty-nine, he was killed in action in Sommocolonia, a small town in Italy.

After the war, the American military was silent about the circumstances surrounding Fox’s death. In 1952, the period for determining World War II honors officially expired; afterward, it would take an act of Congress to reexamine potentially award-worthy cases.

In the early 1970’s, a white American woman living in Italy stumbled across a memorial to Fox that residents of Sommocolonia had erected. Intrigued, the woman interviewed Italian and American survivors of the war and conducted extensive research that finally revealed Fox’s story.

In December, 1944, Fox and other Buffalo soldiers bore the brunt of Operation Winter Storm, a German-Italian offensive launched during the Battle of the Bulge. Seventy soldiers from the 92nd Division, including Fox, and twenty-five antifascist Italian partisans volunteered to stay in Sommocolonia to cover the withdrawal of thinly spread American forces. Fox commanded a forward observation post. Early on the morning of December 26, the enemy attacked. Outnumbered fifteen to one and ill equipped, the defenders fought bravely but soon ran out of ammunition. Fox called for artillery to lay down a smokescreen to allow eighteen Allied survivors to escape. When he was about to be overrun, he ordered the artillery to drop shells directly on his position. Fox and more than one hundred enemy troops were killed in the barrage.

Based on the new information, Fox’s family petitioned the military for his recognition as a hero. In 1982, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest military decoration. In 1992, the U.S. Army commissioned a study to review the award process. The study concluded that, because of racism and discrimination among predominantly southern superior officers during the war, African American soldiers had been denied the opportunity to win recognition. To rectify the injustice, the study recommended ten individuals for the Congressional Medal of Honor. In 1997, Fox and six other black servicemen—only one still alive at the time—finally were awarded America’s highest military honor.

Significance

Between the establishment of the Medal of Honor in the 1860’s and the end of the Vietnam War, more than 2,550 Medals of Honor were awarded; just 53 recipients were African American. Fox’s story of sacrifice and long-overdue recognition highlights the heroism of African American soldiers and the discrimination they faced even in death.

Bibliography

Field, Ron, and Alexander Bielakowski. Buffalo Soldiers: African American Troops in the U.S. Forces 1866-1945. Oxford, England: Osprey, 2008. This illustrated work covers the history of African American participation in the U.S. military from the Civil War to World War II, demonstrating how segregation and racism perpetuated stereotypes regarding the character and behavior of black soldiers in combat.

Hargrove, Hondon B. Buffalo Soldiers in Italy: Black Americans in World War II. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003. This is a well-researched study of the contributions of the Ninety-second Division, the segregated all-black army unit that saw combat in Europe during World War II.

Proft, R. J. United States of America’s Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients and Their Official Citations. 4th ed. Minneapolis, Minn.: Highland House II, 2002. This massive reference lists all Medal of Honor recipients to date of publication, complete with the official description of their actions that led to the granting of the award.

Tillman, Barrett. Heroes: U.S. Army Medal of Honor Recipients. New York: Berkley Caliber, 2006. Presents details about the lives and actions of one hundred soldiers—including Fox—who were awarded the Medal of Honor.