This is a letter my Dad, Raymond Cox, wrote to a WWII vetern with whom he had served. He hand-wrote the letter himself sometime in the 1980’s. He always had me type the final draft.  He got the address for Edmond (?) from the POW Magazine, but, to my knowledge, never received a reply.

Click on the following link to read the letter.

letter-from-raymond-cox

Several year ago, I told my friend, Dr. Jim Gifford, as much as I knew about my Dad’s experience in the WWII, and he thought it would make a wonderful story for publication. He wanted me to write the story. I kept telling him that I liked working with computers and accounting, but a writer I was not.  He is CEO and Senior Editor of the Jesse Stuart Foundation which specializes in publishing, selling, and promoting Appalachian values and literature. Finally, he said he would write the story with my help—with me providing the material and him writing. He even had a researcher try to locate my Dad’s debriefing in Washington, DC and College Park, MD. The military people with whom he talked said the debriefing had to have been extensive for him to have been kept in Europe for four months after being reunited with the Allied Forces. All to no avail, nothing was found.

Click on the following link to access Dr. Gifford’s article about my Dad:

This article and photo of my father appeared in the Williamson Daily News. He had been ill for some time with what is now know as PTSD. About this time he began sharing more of his experience in Italy and Camp 59. 

Ethel Cox Stafford

Ethel Stafford speaks of her father, Raymond Cox, World War II prisoner of war, on November 2, 2006 at Fairland West Elementary School in Proctorville, Ohio.

At a Veterans Day 2006 assembly, Raymond E. Cox received a posthumous honor: the Prisoner of War Medal, a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces.

Eloise Cox accepted the medal on behalf of her husband.

The event was covered by The Daily Independent of Ashland. The article “WW II vet receives posthumous honor” is available online. The article tells the story of Raymond Cox’s emprisonment and escape, and how he was sheltered for nine months at an Italian farm by the family of Primo Mecossi.

The Prisoner of War Medal was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. You can find more information about the medal at the “Prisoner of War Medal” entry on Wikipedia.