Oral History Interview with John Cox, October 7, 2005

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Cox. Cox was born in Detroit in 1923. After graduating from high school he attended the University of Michigan. In 1943 he entered the Army Air Forces. After taking basic training at Miami Beach, he went to Technology Western Reserve University for three months of study before going to Nashville, Tennessee for qualification testing. He was selected for pilot training and tells of the various bases at which he trained. Following his qualification with mutli-engine aircraft and being commissioned a second lieutenant he was sent to Naples, Italy to fly bombers. Reacting to a need for fighter pilots, he volunteered to fly P-38s and was assigned to the 82nd Fighter Group, 696th Fighter Squadron. Soon after his arrival he was selected for temporary assignment to the 154th Weather Squadron based at Bari, Italy to fly weather reconnaissance. He describes flying missions over Ploiesti, Romania and tells of seeing numerous American aircraft downed by flak. In 1944, he transferred into the Air Transport Command based at Cairo where he flew C-46 transport planes. Several months later he went to Lalmonirhat, India where he joined the 1326th Army Air Force Base Unit and began flying missions to various bases in India, Burma and China. Following the surrender of Japan, Cox returned to the United States and was discharged January 1946