Wesley Lee Fox (September 30, 1931 – November 24, 2017) was a highly decorated United States Marine Corps colonel with 43 years of service. Fox was a combat veteran – receiving the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War – and is considered one of the Marine Corps' legendary heroes. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he wrote a book about his career: Marine Rifleman: Forty-Three Years in the Corps; and, he served for 8 years as deputy commandant for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
Early years
Wesley Lee Fox was born on September 30, 1931, to John Wesley and Desola Lee (née Crouch) Fox on a farm outside of Herndon, Virginia, the oldest of ten siblings. He attended Warren County High School in Front Royal, Virginia until 1946, quitting school after the eighth grade, intending to be a farmer.
Marine Corps service
Korean War
When the Korean War began, inspired by the military service of his cousins in World War II, Fox enlisted in the Marine Corps on August 4, 1950, shortly before his 19th birthday. He intended to serve for four years and then return to the farm. He completed recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina in October 1950. After a brief tour as a rifleman with the 2nd Marine Division at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he was sent to Korea.
His first tour to Korea began in January 1951, serving as a rifleman with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. In March 1951, he was promoted to corporal. He was wounded in action in Korea on September 8, 1951, and sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V".
He recovered and was released from Bethesda in March 1952, he served with the Armed Forces Police, in Washington, D.C., as a patrolman until September 1953 when he was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 in Japan.
1954 - 1967
In 1954, with the war in Korea over, he re-enlisted for six years. and was returned to Korea for his second tour, as a platoon sergeant with Company G, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. When he returned to the United States, he served briefly at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, prior to being assigned to Drill Instructors School at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, where he completed the course of instruction in August 1955.
Completing his course of instruction in August 1955, he remained at San Diego serving as a drill instructor until August 1957 when he once again returned to the East Coast to attend Recruiter's School at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, subsequent to being assigned duty as a recruiter in the Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore, Maryland areas from 1957 to December 1960.
In December 1960, Fox was ordered back to the West Coast and served as a platoon sergeant with the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company at both Camp Pendleton, California, and on Okinawa through November 1962. In December 1962, he was assigned as a troop handler at the Marine Air Detachment, in Jacksonville, Florida, and served in this capacity until September 1965. Gunnery Sergeant Fox next saw duty in the Office of the Provost Marshal, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Paris, France.
In May 1966, he was promoted briefly to first sergeant, and shortly afterwards, he was commissioned as a Marine second lieutenant by Brigadier General John W. Antonelli on 27 May 1966. Returning to the United States in August of that year, he became a platoon commander with the 2d Force Reconnaissance Company at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.