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douglas9

(4,484 posts)
Tue Jun 20, 2023, 07:18 AM Jun 2023

'Give them hell!' The Black Medal of Honor recipient who called an artillery strike on his position

More than 70 years ago, Lieutenant John R. Fox was penned in on the second-floor of a building in an Italian village. German soldiers had overrun the town just before Christmas, 1944, leaving Fox and a few other forward observers as the only Americans left. Over the radio he was directing an artillery strike that put several Nazis but also Fox himself in the crosshairs.

“That was just where I wanted it. Bring it 60 yards!” he told artillery soldiers.

Fox’s decision in the village of Sommocolonia, Italy would help turn the tide of the fight, at the cost of his life. He would eventually receive the Medal of Honor for his heroism, but only five decades later, his service was ignored due to the racism of the time.

John R. Fox was born in 1915 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at Wilberforce University in Ohio, a historic Black university. While there, he joined the ROTC program, which at the time was run by Aaron Fisher, a Black World War I veteran who had earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his time in France. Fox graduated, commissioned a second lieutenant and was assigned to the 366th Infantry Regiment. This was in the days of a segregated military, and the 366th was an all-Black unit. He also started training in artillery.

https://taskandpurpose.com/history/john-r-fox-medal-of-honor-valor/

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'Give them hell!' The Black Medal of Honor recipient who called an artillery strike on his position (Original Post) douglas9 Jun 2023 OP
Omg UpInArms Jun 2023 #1
An American hero. They should make a movie about this dude. Racism is an abomination. Joinfortmill Jun 2023 #2
This is the history that Republicans want to hide because it messes up their story of all black Lonestarblue Jun 2023 #4
One heroic Fox. One downright evil one full of rotten ones from top to bottom. Wonder Why Jun 2023 #3
My late Grandfather Ampulae Jun 2023 #5
What a great family history geardaddy Jun 2023 #6
It warms my heart too WhiteTara Jun 2023 #9
My father who served in WW2 claimed there were no black combat units. Ligyron Jun 2023 #7
KnR. Thanks for allowing me to learn somehting new today. n/t iluvtennis Jun 2023 #8

UpInArms

(51,895 posts)
1. Omg
Tue Jun 20, 2023, 08:19 AM
Jun 2023
That is, except for Fox and some of his fellow soldiers. They stayed in the second floor of the Italian building, where he could track German movements and call in counter artillery strikes. But the Germans kept pressing in, so Fox kept calling for attacks closer to his position, eventually 60 yards from where he was.

The commander of the 598th directly called Fox, asking for confirmation. Fox didn’t waiver. He confirmed he wanted the artillery strike launched.

“The last communication from Lieutenant Fox was, ‘Fire It! There’s more of them than there are of us. Give them hell!’” his Medal of Honor citation noted.


Lonestarblue

(11,979 posts)
4. This is the history that Republicans want to hide because it messes up their story of all black
Tue Jun 20, 2023, 09:05 AM
Jun 2023

people being criminals and welfare cheats.

Ampulae

(22 posts)
5. My late Grandfather
Tue Jun 20, 2023, 09:20 AM
Jun 2023

graduated from Wilberforce University. It was not only an historically black college, it was the first EVER historically black college. My grandfather also joined the ROTC program graduating a second lieutenant in the army, although his service was not during war time.

It warms my heart to read this story on several levels.

Ligyron

(7,906 posts)
7. My father who served in WW2 claimed there were no black combat units.
Tue Jun 20, 2023, 09:52 AM
Jun 2023

Said they were all like cooks and laborers.

I wish he were alive to I could shove this in his face.

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