John Weldon Cox was born on 27 October 1926 in Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee, the son of Floyd Raymond “Fate” Cox and Nellie Maude Milhorn. His selective service registration (draft) card states 1924 for his birth. John was working as a farmhand on the farm of B.C. Martin also in Jonesborough when he enlisted in the United States Army.
He was assigned to Company B, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division.
John died of wounds received at the Werra River in Creuzburg, Wartburgkreis, Thuringen, Germany on 1 April 1945. He was 18 years old.
The Johnson City Press, 22 April 1945
The War Department has notified Floyd Cox of Jonesboro, route 7, his son, Pfc. John W. Cox, 18, died April 1 of wounds received the day before in action in Germany. The young soldier, member of an infantry outfit, had been overseas four months. He was inducted into the Army December 7, 1944, and trained in North Carolina and Fort Meade, Maryland. An older brother, Pfc. Opal P. Cox, 315 is serving with the Third Army in Europe. Surviving besides the father and soldier brother are another brother, Alden Cox of the home, and four sisters, Louise and Bonnie Kate Cox, and Mrs. Roy Bowery, all of Route 7, and Mrs. Buddy Baines of Fall Branch.
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 27 October 1926
- Date of death: 1 April 1945
- County: Johnson
- Hometown: Fall Branch
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division
- Theater: e
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Jonesboro, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar VIII, Top Panel
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