George
L. Fox was born March 15, 1900 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. In
addition to George, he had a sister Gertrude and brothers Bert, Leo
and John. When George was just 17, he left school, and with strong
determination, convinced the military authorities he was 18 and
joined the ambulance corps in 1917, shortly after the United States
entered World War I. George was placed in the ambulance corps and
shipped to Camp Newton D. Baker in Texas. On December 3, 1917,
George embarked from Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and boarded the US
Huron en route to France. As a medical corps assistant, he was
highly decorated for bravery and was awarded the Silver Star, Purple
Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.
Upon his discharge, he returned home to Altoona, completed his
last year in high school, and went to work for the Guarantee Trust
Company. In 1923, he entered Moody Institute in Illinois, where he
married at Winona Lake, Indiana. After he withdrew from Moody, he
became an itinerant preacher in the Methodist faith. A son, Wyatt
Ray, was born on November 11, 1924. After several successful years,
George held a student pastorate in Downs, Illinois. He entered
Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington in 1929 and graduated
with an A.B. degree in 1931. Again as a student pastorate in Rye,
New Hampshire, he entered the Boston University School of Theology.
George was ordained a Methodist minister on June 10, 1934 and
graduated with a S.T.B. degree. He was appointed pastor in Waits
River, Vermont. Their second child, Mary Elizabeth, was born shortly
thereafter. In 1936, he accepted a pastorate in Union Village,
Vermont. His next calling was in Gilman, Vermont where he joined the
Walter G. Moore American Legion Post. He was later appointed state
chaplain and historian for the Legion.
In mid-1942, George decided to join the Army Chaplain Service and
he was appointed on July 24, 1942. He went on active duty August 8,
1942, the same day his son Wyatt enlisted in the Marine Corps. He
was assigned to the Chaplains school at Harvard and then reported to
the 411th Coast Artillery Battalion at Camp Davis. He was then
reunited with Chaplains Goode, Poling and Washington at Camp Myles
Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts and their fateful trip on the
USAT DORCHESTER. Chaplain Fox was posthumously awarded the Purple
Heart and Distinguished Service Cross. |
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