John S Cox was born in Monticello, White County, Indiana on August 20, 1921 to Charles F. & Agnes Franks Cox. They were both born in Indiana also. His father worked in the automobile business. He had a younger brother Richard and a younger sister Mary.

He had enlisted in the Army Air Forces in Feb 1942 after working as a New Watchman Worker. He served during World War II. He had the rank of Staff Sergeant. Occupation or specialty was Ball Turret Gunner. Service number was 35372745. Served with 384th Bomber Group, Heavy, 547th Bomber Squadron.

Cox experienced a critical situation which resulted in loss of life on April 24, 1944. Recorded circumstances attributed to: "FOD - Finding of Death". Incident location: Leustetten, Germany.

He was the ball turret gunner on the crew of the B-17G #42-38158 "Jean" during a mission to bomb the Dornier aircraft factory at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. They received a direct hit in the cockpit and exploded mid air, crashing near Leustatten, Germany.

8 casualties are related to the #42-38158 incident on April 24, 1944.

Pilot: 2nd Lt. William Graham MacKichan, MI

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. William James Hautz , OH.

Navigator: 1st Lt. Neil Emerson Walling, MI.

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. John D. Lynch, Jr., IN.

Top Turret: T/Sgt. Elroy Andrew Altendorf , WI

Ball Turret: S/Sgt. John S. Cox, IN

Tail Gunner: T/Sgt. John Paul Pastorella, CT.

Right Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Kermit Iver Olstad, MN

Bailed Out and survived:

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Kenneth D. Gray, ID-39831267 POW at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikindorf near Krems Austria

Left Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. Claus Norman Gustafson -12129322 POW

at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikindorf near Krems Austria

REMEMBERED

John S Cox is buried or memorialized at IOOF Riverview Cemetery, Monticello, White County, Indiana.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Air Medal ★ Purple Heart

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (seehttps://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/ . This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.