Pfc. Robert D. Fox

Biography and Wartime Service

Robert Dillon Fox was born on April 11, 1922, in Newport, Nebraska, to Hedwig Katherine Gesiriech, age 42, and Lindsey July Fox, age 50.

Robert D. Fox was inducted into the US Army October 9, 1942. He completed basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin were he was assigned to C Battery, 405th AAA Gun Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps, as an anti-aircraft gunner. Continuing his anti-aircraft training at Camp Davis Tennessee, Camp Pickett Virginia, and Fort Dix New Jersey. On October 21, 1943, C Battery left for England arriving November 1, 1943. In England the unit was sent to Kettering and then to Bishop Stratford where they experienced their first enemy air raid. On December 15, 1943, C Battery crossed the Irish Sea on a ferry to Northern Ireland for their first tactical mission protecting Langford Lodge, an assembly plant for Lockheed Aircraft. After three and a half months in Ireland Battery C was sent back to England arriving at Camp Cleve for firing instruction training. C Battery was awarded the most efficient gun battery of the 405th. They were then set up 16 miles from Nottingham England to protect a Glider Base. C Battery arrived in Normandy on D-Day +30 and occupied a position near St. Mere Église to defend supplies being brought into Utah Beach. They were in this position from July 16, 1944, until October 26, 1944.

They were then sent to Belgium and it took three days to arrive at their location near the village of Putte as part of Antwerp X, a secret operation to protect the port of Antwerp from V-1 bombs. Dillon's battery, C Battery was set up from November 6, until December 26, 1944 in a field near Peter Michielslei & Stompaarshoek, Putte. C Battery recorded their first hit of a V-1 three days after positioning the guns. On December 26, 1944, C Battery was repositioned near Achterbroek, Belgium. On January 9, 1945, C Battery moved to a position at the Kalmthoutse Heide, Belgium and was at this position until March 15, 1945. The Battery wore out four gun barrels and fired a total of 1927 rounds in 390 engagements with 181 confirmed kills.

Late March early April saw C Battery back in Normandy near Cherbourg France, where they also guarded German prisoners. 'Dillon', as he was known, was honorably discharged on October 13, 1945.

Robert Dillon Fox returned to Nebraska where he attended Milford Community College receiving degrees in Auto Body and Metallurgy. He married Marion Edith Debolt on June 9, 1946, when he was 24 years old, and lived in Ainsworth, Nebraska. Two children, Lynn and Douglas, were born to the union.
Robert D. Fox passed away at the age of 84 on March 7, 2006. His wife Marion Edith Fox died on November 14, 2014, in Atkinson, Nebraska, when she was 94 years old.

I had the pleasure of meeting with his son Douglas Fox and his wife Leanne during their visit to Belgium tracing his father’s footsteps in April 2023.

Gallery

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