Scope and Contents

Marine Rifleman: Forty-three Years in the Corps documents Colonel Wesley Fox's military career, 1950-1993, and is signed by the author. The collection also includes two reels of Super 8 film, approximately three minutes of undated footage, of Colonel Fox in Vietnam. Ammunition puch and utility belt donated to the Vietnam Archive by Wesley Fox.

Biographical / Historical

Colonel Wesley Lee Fox (30 September 1931-24 November 2017) was a USMC combat veteran of Korea and Vietnam, and received the Medal of Honor as a result of actions during Operation Dewey Canyon, in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam along the border with Laos in 1969.

Fox enlisted with the U.S. Marines in 1950 and served in the Korean War as a rifleman. He spent the first 16 years as a noncommissioned officer and also worked as a drill instructor, a recruiter, and a military police officer. In 1966, he received a temporary commission as a second lieutenant and in 1967 was sent to Vietnam and served first as an advisor to a South Vietnamese Marine battalion. He was promoted to first lieutenant and rifle company commander of Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division and beginning in January 1969 was part of Operation Dewey Canyon with the mission to disrupt a North Vietnamese military division on the Vietnam-Laos border. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on 22 February 1969 when, while wounded, he led his outnumbered unit to hold the enemy in place until air support arrived: "His indomitable courage, inspiring initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger inspired his Marine to such aggressive actions that they overcame all enemy resistance and destroyed a large bunker complex" and caused the NVA unit to retreat. Fox also received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Fox's final active-duty assignment was as commanding officer of Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. He retired from the military in 1993, then spent eight years as a deputy commandant of cadets at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He wrote three books, a memoir, 'Marine Rifleman' (2002), 'Courage and Fear: a Primer' (2007) and 'Six Essential Elements of Leadership' (2011).

Colonel Fox is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Section 55, Grave 1125) in Washington, DC.

Sources:
https://news.vt.edu/articles/2017/11/corps-fox.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/wesley-fox-marine-who-received-medal-of-honor-for-vietnam-campaign-dies-at-86/2017/11/28/e5f9fa32-d462-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185520280/wesley_lee-fox