Thread by @DavidZabinsky

"Fire it!"

Lt. John R. Fox ordered the US airmen above him to fire a strike at his exact coordinates on a December 26th morning during WWII.

He knew the strike he just ordered would kill him...but it didn't matter.

He made the call anyways.

Lt. Fox was a hero.

His story👇:

We start in the 1930s.

John Robert Fox from Cincinnati was a young man studying engineering at (The) Ohio State University.

But after only a few semesters, Fox was forced to move 60 miles west on I-71, where he'd transfer to another Ohio school:

Wilberforce University.

Why transfer, you ask?

Well, Fox had an interest in military service and wanted to enroll in the ROTC: a program that prepares students to become US Military officers.

The issue?

Ohio State - like nearly every other school at the time - didn't let black students join the ROTC.

And so after transferring to Wilberforce, a historically black college, Fox graduated in 1941 at the age of 26 with his engineering degree...and even better?

He was now a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army.

But even as the US formally entered the European Theatre of WWII later that year, Fox, just like so many other African-American officers in the Army, was kept on the sidelines.

No, not because he was unskilled…or untrained…or unprepared.

It was because he was black.

You see, back then, the Army wasn't shy about implementing absurdly racist policies.

Not only were black soldiers forced to stay home whilst white soldiers fought abroad, but they were also required to serve in their own segregated unit.

Its name?

The 92nd Infantry Division.

So in 1942, 1943, and much of 1944, whilst white soldiers were scattered throughout Europe fighting in WWII, the 92nd was stuck in Arizona in what seemed like an eternal training.

But that would all change in July of 1944, when the 92nd would - finally - be deployed.

To Italy.

Think Fox and the 92nd received a warm welcome from their superior officers when they arrived in Europe?

Think again.

"I did NOT send for you," Major General Edward Almond told the 92nd once they arrived in Italy.

Wait...it gets worse:

"Your Negro newspapers, Negro politicians, and white friends have insisted on your seeing combat, and I shall see that you get combat AND your share of the casualties."

Imagine: you’re sent overseas to fight for your country…and that’s the type of "pep talk" you receive.

In any event, shortly thereafter, Lt. Fox and the 92nd found themselves in Sommocolonia, Italy.

Despite it being Christmas, Lt. Fox volunteered to be a "forward observer", where he’d be responsible for serving on the front lines and calling in artillery strikes.

And just one day after Christmas, on December 26th, 1944, Lt. Fox and his men were under attack.

And it was bad.

Real bad.

With the Germans arriving in droves, and Sommocolonia under heavy gunfire, Lt. Fox had no choice:

He ordered his men to retreat.

But not Fox himself…no.

As forward observer, Lt. Fox courageously stood his ground, sitting in the second floor of a house under fire.

He radioed in coordinates for US airmen in the sky to bomb.

Each barrage of strikes helped deter enemy forces and protect his men in retreat.

And as Lt. Fox continued to give coordinates that were closer and closer to the house from which he was coordinating the defense, he radioed in:

"Bring it in 60 yards!"

But bringing the artillery in 60 yards, the soldier carefully warned, would leave Fox no chance to survive...

For Lt. Fox? It didn't matter.

"Fire it!" Fox yelled.

"There’s more of them than there are of us!"

"Give them hell!"

-

The American bombardment ensued.

Lt. Fox was killed.

By his own order. By his own airmen.

"Give them hell!" was the last command Lt. Fox would ever make.

Lt. John Robert Fox, in every sense of the word, sacrificed himself.

By ordering the Americans to strike at his very own coordinates, Lt. Fox slowed the enemy attack and allowed countless Allied troops and Italian civilians to escape.

He saved their lives.

The strike also slowed down enemy forces so much that the Americans had time to organize a counterattack.

It worked.

The Americans recaptured Sommocolonia six days later, on New Year’s Day, 1945.

Surely, Lt. Fox would - at the very least - receive some sort of recognition from his superiors…or the US Government following his sacrifice, right?

Well…no.

In the aftermaths of both WWI and WWII, many African-Americans’ acts of bravery and heroism went completely unnoticed.

It wasn’t until 1982 – 38 years after his death – that he would posthumously receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

And 15 years later, in 1997, President Clinton upgraded Lt. Fox’s Distinguished Service Cross to the most prestigious recognition there is:

The Medal of Honor.

"We never needed any medals," the late Arlene Fox, Lt. Fox’s wife said in 1997.

"John just felt that we were as good as anybody else, and he was going to prove it, and he did."

But John wasn't just as good as anybody else...no.

He was better.

Enjoy Lt. Fox’s inspiring story? Learn something new today?

Follow @DavidZabinsky for more stories like this one.

For another similarly heroic story - one from WWI - check out the one below about Henry Johnson:

https://twitter.com/DavidZabinsky/status/1468969086029758470?s=20

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More reads on Lt. Fox:

army.mil/article/242816…

cmohs.org/recipients/joh…

thenmusa.org/biographies/jo…

mohmuseum.org/john-fox-and-t…