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| Ensign Joseph Cox was a F6F-5 Hellcat pilot on the USS Enterprise. http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/mac/6sept1944.asp https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58151581/joseph-edward-cox |
Joseph Edward Cox never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 10, 1919 in Colorado. His parents Fred and Icie were both born in Oklahoma. His father worked as a farmer. Joseph had one younger sister and two younger brothers. The family was living in Colorado in 1930 and Idaho in I940. By 1940 Joseph had completed four years of high school. He was living with his parents and was working as a body and fender man.
He enlisted in the US Navy in September 1942. He was trained to fly carrier based aircraft and became an ensign flying F6F-5 Hellcats for VF-20 which was based on the USS Enterprise. By 1944, when Ensign Cox was serving in VF-20, it took part in attacks on Taroa, Kwajalein, Truk, Peleliu, Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. It took part in the Battle of the Philippine Seas where the Japanese naval power was pretty much wiped out. By September it was attacking Yap.
On September 6, 1944 Ensign Cox was part of a flight of 35 Hellcats armed with rockets sent to bomb targets on Yap Town. Cox's plane was possibly hit by flak and it veered into another Hellcat. The mid-air collision sent both planes crashing into the dense Yap jungle. Ensign Cox would remain missing in action until the early 1990s when local Yapese found his wreckage and his remains were sent home.
A website with details about Ensign Cox is here: http://www.missingaircrew.com/trip/cox1/
His grave is at Kohlerlawn Cemetery in Nampa, Idaho.
Last year on this date I profiled Distinguished Flying Cross hero and B-24 pilot Truett Bullock. You can read about Truett here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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