Joseph Aubrey Cox was born on January 29, 1911 in Pike County, Alabama to Joseph “Jodie” Beverly Cox and Eula Cleona (Jeffcoat) Cox. Jodie and Eula were both natives of Pike County and married there on September 6, 1903. After their marriage, Jodie farmed in Pike County, but in 1920 he was working as an electrician at the city light plant. He eventually returned to farming for a living. He and Eula had five children – Carrie, Curtis, Albert, Aubrey and Marie.

Aubrey Cox, who was known by his middle name, is shown in the 1930 census at the age of 19, living with his family in Troy, Pike County, Alabama and working as an unpaid family farm worker. By 1940 he was married to the former Gladys Pearl Sanders and was living in nearby Covington County, Alabama, where he worked as a truck driver for a saw mill.

On October 16, 1940 Aubrey registered for the draft in Opp, Covington County, Alabama. He gave his wife as his next of kin and W. J. Thomas of Opp as his employer. On November 27, 1942 Aubrey voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort McClellan, Alabama. His enlistment record indicates that he was married, was a resident of Montgomery County, Alabama, had a grammar school education and had worked at a semiskilled machine shop occupation.

Sergeant Cox received his gunner’s wings on January 17, 1944 at Las Vegas, Nevada. He then became a member of the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress with the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, who were stationed at Amendola, Italy. He flew his first combat mission over Linz, Austria on July 25, 1944 and two months later was promoted to Staff Sergeant, after having completed 15 bombing missions.

On December 9, 1944, Staff Sergeant Cox was a gunner on a B-17G #42-97739 piloted by 1st Lt. Woodruff J. Warren. Their plane left the Amendola Air Base on a bombing mission to attack the Brux Synthetic Oil Refinery in Czechoslovakia. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the formation was redirected to an alternative target, the Regensburg Oil Storage facility. Over this target, the second wave consisting of two squadrons, made three runs without dropping their bombs due to equipment malfunctions. The two squadrons then proceeded to another alternate target, Pilsen. After bombing this target, the aircraft in the formation encountered intense heavy, accurate flak from Praha.

Lt. Warren’s aircraft suffered serious flak damage and began losing altitude. When he was last heard from, he was flying at 15,000 feet and losing altitude. He stated that he did not think he was going to be able to make it over the Alps and would have to bail, but if he made it, he would have to ditch. Four of his crew members parachuted from the plane before he made a perfect crash landing. Those four were eventually captured and taken as prisoners by the Germans. The six who survived the crash landing, including Staff Sergeant Cox and Lt. Warren, were captured by the local Czech Nazis and summarily shot.

Only after the war was their complete story told. Franz Strasser was tried for war crimes in December 1945 for the murders of five of the crew members, and was convicted and hung. The other participant in the murders, the local police chief, died by suicide before the war was over. The trial of Franz Stasser appeared in a documentary film “Justice Comes to Germany”, photographed in a courtroom at Dauchau, Germany. A news article about the documentary appeared in the Cleburne News along with remarks from Staff Sergeant Ralph E. Henry of Childersburg, Alabama, one of the surviving crew members. He had first learned the fate of his fellow crewmembers through the film.

Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Cox’s remains were recovered and buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in France. He was awarded an Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters for his aerial achievements and a Purple Heart for the sacrifice of his life in the service of his county. He was survived by his wife, as well as his parents, his brothers, Curtis and Albert Cox, and his sisters, Carrie May Messick and Marie McVay.

Thank you, Sergeant Cox, for your service and your sacrifice. You will not be forgotten.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see 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. SBTSProject/Alabama/Montgomery.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at dbsmail1315@charter.net.

Sources:

· 1920 United States Federal Census

· 1930 United States Federal Census

· 1940 United States Federal Census

· U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

· U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

· U.S. World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954

· U.S. Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949

· U.S. World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

· U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945

· Alabama, WWII Military Dead and Wounded, 1944-1946

· Newspapers.com, Montgomery Advertiser, 18 Nov 1945

· Newspapers.com, Opp News, 21 Sep 1944

· Newspapers.com, Cleburne News, 31 Jan 1946

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56654041/joseph-aubrey-cox

Joseph A Cox