12/09/2021
GIVE THEM HELL !!!! 🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸
Remembering 1st Lt John R. Fox (Cincinnati, Ohio), an American hero who sacrificed his life to stop a German offensive. During WWII, John served his beloved country with the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division. Day after day, he led by example, showed outstanding courage, and was admired by all his men. On December 26, 1944, John was in Sommocolonia, Italy, where the Germans had launched a massive attack against American positions. As a forward observer, the young officer positioned himself on the second floor of a local house (with a few Italian resistance fighters) and directed artillery fire to try and delay the German offensive. Seeing that hundreds of German soldiers were advancing towards him, John could have surrendered, or tried to retreat, but he decided to make the ultimate sacrifice, and called for an artillery strike on his own position. Confused by the coordinates he called in, his battalion commander said: "Fox, that will be on you.". But the young officer replied: "Fire it ! There's more of them than there are of us. Give them hell !". The massive artillery fire stopped the German offensive and allowed American troops to reorganize and recapture Sommocolonia. When John's men entered the village, they found his lifeless body and discovered more than a hundred dead Germans near his final position. Following the war, the citizens of Sommocolonia erected a monument to honor 1st Lt John R. Fox, and on January 12, 1997, this true American hero was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. John is now resting in peace at Colebrook Cemetery in Whitman, Massachusetts.
