thedrifter
05-14-07, 08:30 AM
A Marine who refused to quit
By Darrell Laurant
dlaurant@newsadvance.com
Sunday, May 13, 2007
There are jobs, and there are careers. Neither of these words is adequate to describe the relationship between Col. Wesley Fox and the United States Marine Corps.
Twice now, Fox has retired from the Corps. In both cases, it was a transition of paper, not of the heart.
On Wednesday, when the Marine Corps League of Lynchburg holds a golf tournament at Ivy Hills to honor area Marines and Army reserve members who have recently returned from duty in Iraq - and to raise money for the new Marine Corps League building - Fox will be the official starter. The next night, he’s giving a talk at Quantico.
“I’m not sure what a starter does,” he said in a telephone conversation from his home in Blacksburg, “but I’m glad to do it. Anything to help out the Marines.”
Fox is not, however, a golfer.
“When I was younger,” he said, “my favorite sports were always parachute jumping and diving and climbing.”
Why isn’t that a surprise?
Like so many American soldiers from the Revolutionary War on, Fox was a farmer (in Warren County) when he enlisted in 1950.
“I was going to stay in four years and go back to the farm,” he said.
Instead, he was a Marine for 43 years, then spent eight more as commandant of the cadet corps at Virginia Tech.
“I just felt like there were things I still needed to do in the Marines after that first hitch,” he said. “And it stayed that way. I really did miss the farm, though.”
One of the things he wanted to do was rise through the ranks, and he did it - from private to colonel, a climb equal to that undertaken by the cliff-scaling young Marine in those recruitment commercials.
“It’s not the way to become commandant of the Marine Corps,” Fox said. “You’ll die of old age before you get there.”
But when Fox became a commissioned officer in order to command troops in Vietnam, his rapport with the enlisted “grunts” stemmed from his own experience.
It was his second war, having participated in the Korean conflict (where he fought with George Rice, later the Marine recruiter in Lynchburg). Early in 1968, 1st Lt. Fox and his company became involved in heavy fighting in the A Shau Valley near Laos.
“We knew there was a heavy concentration of the enemy there,” Fox said, “and we went in during the monsoon season, to catch them by surprise. The problem was, the weather was too bad for helicopter support, so we had to do without it. We had to drag our dead and wounded along with us on ponchos, because they couldn’t be medevacked out.”
And a lot of ponchos were needed. The company received 75 percent casualties, and five Americans were given the Medal of Honor for heroism in that campaign. Only Fox lived to have the medal pinned on his chest.
His citation read, in part: “When his executive officer was mortally wounded, Capt. Fox (the citation reflects a later promotion) reorganized the company and directed the fire of his men as they hurled grenades against the enemy and drove the hostile forces into retreat. Wounded again in the final assault, Capt. Fox refused medical attention, established a defensive posture and supervised the preparation of casualties for medical evacuation.
“His indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger inspired his Marines to such aggressive action that they overcame all enemy resistance and destroyed a large bunker complex. Capt. Fox’s heroic actions reflect great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps and uphold the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.”
Maybe “starting” golf tournaments or signing copies of his 2002 book, “Marine Rifleman,” isn’t quite as heroic, but Fox sees those things as a logical extension of his Marinehood.
“Once a Marine, always a Marine, I guess,” he said. “That’ll never change.”
For more information on the golf tournament, organized by local Marine veteran Kathy Plourde, you can call her at (434) 664-8512.
• Correction: In my Sunday column, I meant to type the words “former R-MWC president” in front of Kathleen Bowman’s name, and for some reason I typed “current president.” The brain and fingers sometimes work together in mysterious ways. Ginger Hill Worden, I do realize that you exist.
Ellie
By Darrell Laurant
dlaurant@newsadvance.com
Sunday, May 13, 2007
There are jobs, and there are careers. Neither of these words is adequate to describe the relationship between Col. Wesley Fox and the United States Marine Corps.
Twice now, Fox has retired from the Corps. In both cases, it was a transition of paper, not of the heart.
On Wednesday, when the Marine Corps League of Lynchburg holds a golf tournament at Ivy Hills to honor area Marines and Army reserve members who have recently returned from duty in Iraq - and to raise money for the new Marine Corps League building - Fox will be the official starter. The next night, he’s giving a talk at Quantico.
“I’m not sure what a starter does,” he said in a telephone conversation from his home in Blacksburg, “but I’m glad to do it. Anything to help out the Marines.”
Fox is not, however, a golfer.
“When I was younger,” he said, “my favorite sports were always parachute jumping and diving and climbing.”
Why isn’t that a surprise?
Like so many American soldiers from the Revolutionary War on, Fox was a farmer (in Warren County) when he enlisted in 1950.
“I was going to stay in four years and go back to the farm,” he said.
Instead, he was a Marine for 43 years, then spent eight more as commandant of the cadet corps at Virginia Tech.
“I just felt like there were things I still needed to do in the Marines after that first hitch,” he said. “And it stayed that way. I really did miss the farm, though.”
One of the things he wanted to do was rise through the ranks, and he did it - from private to colonel, a climb equal to that undertaken by the cliff-scaling young Marine in those recruitment commercials.
“It’s not the way to become commandant of the Marine Corps,” Fox said. “You’ll die of old age before you get there.”
But when Fox became a commissioned officer in order to command troops in Vietnam, his rapport with the enlisted “grunts” stemmed from his own experience.
It was his second war, having participated in the Korean conflict (where he fought with George Rice, later the Marine recruiter in Lynchburg). Early in 1968, 1st Lt. Fox and his company became involved in heavy fighting in the A Shau Valley near Laos.
“We knew there was a heavy concentration of the enemy there,” Fox said, “and we went in during the monsoon season, to catch them by surprise. The problem was, the weather was too bad for helicopter support, so we had to do without it. We had to drag our dead and wounded along with us on ponchos, because they couldn’t be medevacked out.”
And a lot of ponchos were needed. The company received 75 percent casualties, and five Americans were given the Medal of Honor for heroism in that campaign. Only Fox lived to have the medal pinned on his chest.
His citation read, in part: “When his executive officer was mortally wounded, Capt. Fox (the citation reflects a later promotion) reorganized the company and directed the fire of his men as they hurled grenades against the enemy and drove the hostile forces into retreat. Wounded again in the final assault, Capt. Fox refused medical attention, established a defensive posture and supervised the preparation of casualties for medical evacuation.
“His indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger inspired his Marines to such aggressive action that they overcame all enemy resistance and destroyed a large bunker complex. Capt. Fox’s heroic actions reflect great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps and uphold the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.”
Maybe “starting” golf tournaments or signing copies of his 2002 book, “Marine Rifleman,” isn’t quite as heroic, but Fox sees those things as a logical extension of his Marinehood.
“Once a Marine, always a Marine, I guess,” he said. “That’ll never change.”
For more information on the golf tournament, organized by local Marine veteran Kathy Plourde, you can call her at (434) 664-8512.
• Correction: In my Sunday column, I meant to type the words “former R-MWC president” in front of Kathleen Bowman’s name, and for some reason I typed “current president.” The brain and fingers sometimes work together in mysterious ways. Ginger Hill Worden, I do realize that you exist.
Ellie