John Robert Fox of Cincinnati, Ohio, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on December 26, 1944, near Sommocolonia, Italy.
Fox graduated from Wilberforce University with a commission as a second lieutenant in 1940. On December 26, 1944, he was part of a small forward observer party that volunteered to stay behind in the Italian village of Sommocolonia. American forces had been forced to withdraw from the village after it had been overrun by the Germans. Fox was directing defensive artillery fire when he ordered the fire be directed onto his own position. The resulting artillery barrage killed Fox and approximately 100 German soldiers surrounding his position. His sacrifice gained time for the U.S. forces to organize a counterattack and retake the village.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on December 26, 1944. Fox is buried at Colebrook Cemetery in Whitman, Massachusetts. He was 29 years old at the time of his death.
Leave a Reply