Second Lieutenant Alden Eugene Fox - CAC WWII
I acquired this group a couple years ago, and realized I've had not posted it here. Alden's daughter asked if I would be interested in acquiring his helmets and some other effects from his military service. Of course I jumped at the chance and made arrangements to come bye and get a look.
What I could never have anticipated was his daughter's enthusiasm and willingness to share her father's stories, recollection, photos, and family history. His daughter's husband, himself a Seabee during the Vietnam War, was just as willing to share some great stories and fond memories of Alden, that helped me appreciate what an brilliant and unique individual he was.
Alden Eugene Fox was born to the Archer Douglass and Mable E. Fox on September 12th, 1919 in Wilton, NH. His father was a veteran of WWI. Alden graduated from Wilton High School in 1937 and received a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from The University of New Hampshire in 1941 and was also a member of the UNH ROTC. Alden entered the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corp during WWII, and served from 1941-1945. He served in numerous CAC Units and had many duty stations.
His duty stations included:
-Harbor Defenses Boston, Ma
- Camp Pendleton, VA
- Ascension Island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean
-Fort Taylor Key West, Fla
-Fort Ord California
Among his duties he was a close combat and small arm instructor and extremely well versed in all elements of artillery and coastal fortifications.
In 1944, Alden married the love of his life, Esther M. (Peaslee) Fox, whom he met at UNH. They were married for 67 years. Ester was a Dietitian.
They eventually adopted five children, and one foster child.
Following his military service, Alden's early career connected him with two pioneers in early aviation, Glenn L. Martin of the Martin Aviation Co., Baltimore, MD and Igor Sikorsky of Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp., Stratford, CT.
Alden was a brilliant engineer whose innovations spanned from a reinforced fiberglass rotor blade for helicopters; fiberglass corners and translucent caps for trucks; the development of aluminum and fiberglass domes to enclose swimming pools and laminated wooden arches for churches and skating rinks.
Among many other things, Alden was a lifelong dog lover as well as a firearms enthusiast and collector.
Alden passed away in the fall of 2015 at the age of 96 years old. He was interned with his wife Ester (who pre-deceased him by seven years) on what would have been their 74th Wedding Anniversary.
The stories and photos shared by his family were priceless. One particular story that stands out is how Alden built a plane in the basement of their home in Connecticut, when they move back to his home town of Wilton, NH - He removed the wings and towed up the highway for hundreds of miles. Gail recalled some interesting looks from toll taker in the various toll booths along the way.
Another story was how Alden took up on his own accord and volunteered the training African American troops, mainly deployed as a labor force in support of other military units, in small arms and hand to hand tactics. Apparently this did not sit well with a particular Captain from the Deep South, who typically showed disdain for him and his undertaking. One day out of the blue, this Captain pulled up in a jeep with a couple of fishing poles and invited Alden to go fishing to a remote location on the island where he said the fishing was said to be outstanding. While Alden was fishing off a cliff edge, the Captain stood somewhat behind him. Out of his peripheral vision, Alden saw the Captain undue the flap on his pistol holster. He said as a reflex, he reach down and undid his flap as well and just stood there staring at the Captain. After a few uncomfortable moments, the Captain closed his holster flap, and Alden said he did the same. He also said he and the Captain never spoke about it and he was never absolutely clear of the Captains intentions, but he certainly had his suspicions.
He had a full set of PBY Catalina blueprints and schematics among his estate paperwork that archivists were extremely happy of them having been found. It was a particularly special set that they did not think existed any longer.
There were many other equally as interesting stories I very much appreciated them sharing with me.
A few more classic photos:
Some of Alden's gear:
Some of Alden's items in detail.....
Alden's father's WWI Brodie helmet, with both his father's initials in grease pen and Alden's in pencil. I imaging Alden probably added his initials when he was a child.
Alden's tropical Pith Helmet, with dates and duty stations noted in the liner.
Alden's Kelly helmet with liner dates and duty stations - I have pictures of him wearing this helmet as well as his holster. Notice the heavy cork texture. He is wearing this and his holster in one of the pictures sitting on a water cooled AA .50 BMG.
A spare M1 helmet liner, one of two Inland high pressure liners.
The first of two M1 helmets with Second Lieutenant's butter bars, this one on both the front of the helmet and liner. Note the tactical mark on the rear of both. I have a theory that the white rear circles are to identify officers and likely a precursor to the "follow me stripes" used on D-Day. An early heat stamp of 26 A and another Inland HP liner.
The other M1 helmet, with a butter bar, tactical rear circle, and Hawley liner. Note the heat stamp of 74 D and the classic grease pencil naming and statement.
Alden's Sam Brown Belt, Cap, Over Seas Garrison Caps (tropical and standard), Holster, goggles, patches, two makers of buttons, ect. Alden most definitely liked personalizing and markings his items.
That's about it for now. Apologies if it's a little picture heavy, there are many more photos that remain unposted.
Thanks for looking, and as always, any and all comments and opinions are welcome and greatly appreciated.
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by TWS
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