Ellis Thornton Cox

Ellis Cox enlisted in the Marine Corps from Phoenix, Arizona, on 18 February 1942. After completing boot camp at MCRD San Diego, he trained as an anti-tank gunner and deployed overseas with the Regimental Weapons Company, 6th Marines. Cox would see combat in the Guadalcanal campaign and the battle for Tarawa as a crewman on a 37mm anti-tank gun.

On 15 June 1944, the 6th Marines were tasked with leading the attack on Saipan’s Red Beaches 1 and 2. Their amphibious tractors were immediately targeted by intense Japanese fire. “As the assault waves started over the reef, it seemed to explode,” records A Brief History of the 6th Marines. “Well registered artillery and mortar shells from hidden and camouflaged enemy guns turned the barrier into an inferno of fire, thunder, and water cascades. The LVTs moved relentlessly on, leaving many of their numbers either broached or destroyed.” The tractor carrying Corporal Cox’s weapon was hit and lurched to a stop; men jumped over the sides as flames began licking out of the hull. Cox, “realizing that the embarked 37mm guns and ammunition were urgently needed by our troops ashore,” bravely stuck to his post in a vain attempt to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the stalled LVT was an easy target for the defenders, and subsequent shell hits completely destroyed the tractor and its cargo.

Corporal Cox lost his life aboard the LVT; for his “indomitable fighting spirit, his great personal valor and zealous devotion to duty,” he was awarded a posthumous Silver Star Medal.