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Tribute to Riley Cox : F/58th LRP, 101st Airborne Division

9K views 20 replies 18 participants last post by  fire03 
#1 ·
To fully understand why i made this figure of him you must read the following ( ALL OF IT ):

"Dozer", as the men affectionately called him for his physique and constitution, was hit everywhere. His right forearm was shattered and he had tied his flopping hand back to his forearm to keep it out of the way. Cox explained to us the extent of his injuries.

"I looked down and saw there was a hole in my boot, so I wiggled my foot and saw blood bubbling out so I thought, 'I probably shouldn't do that'. Then I looked down and saw the ration I just ate a while before...it was in my stomach. My guts were hanging out in my lap."7

Cox grinned ruefully at his teammates and scooped his entrails back into his body. Stuffing a green sweat towel into the wound to try and keep everything inside, he calmly picked up his shotgun with his left hand and turned to cover the perimeter, continuing to fire down the hill.

"I could hear [Cox's] shotgun firing when I was on the radio with anybody on the ground that was communicating to me," Captain Eklund said. "He continued to fire until he ran out of ammo."

Only three men were able to guard the others. Walkabout and Linderer agreed that if they were overrun, they would shoot their fellow LRPs and then themselves rather than be captured by the NVA.

later it goes on to say :

Meanwhile, Cox was keeping his side of the hill defended as best he could. Captain Eklund recalls looking down from his C&C chopper onto the carnage just below.

"[Cox] had to expend his last few grenades by wedging them between his blood-soaked legs, and pulling the pins with his left hand...He smiled at me [and] made a thumbs-up signal with his left hand. The right hand was too badly mangled for him to move, as I noticed it resting against his side; probably attempting to keep his intestines in."11

The next medevac immediately replaced the first, and again drew heavy NVA fire. As the second penetrator was lowered, it too drifted toward the enemy positions. Walkabout again dashed toward the enemy positions to retrieve the penetrator; dragging it back to the center of the perimeter. Walkabout and Linderer tried to convince Cox to go out on this medevac, but he yelled back "I'm okay, get somebody else out!" Souza looked like a goner, so the two men strapped him to the penetrator, and he was raised through the trees. Walkabout told Cox that he was going out on the next bird.

"Dozer jacked another round in his shotgun and shouted back that he wasn't going until he ran out of shells. 'Besides,' he added, 'I ain't hit so bad!' I screamed back at him, 'Riley, you ****in' bull**** artist! You're goin'.' He flashed back a big grin. I knew he wasn't going."12
an excerpt from :Brother Against Brother Pt 4: Interviews with Vietnam War Authors

This is right from the man, Riley Cox. On this mission he humped in over 1000 rds of m16 ammo for his car 15, and over 100 rds of ammo for his 12 gauge shotgun. Note: he did survive his wounds











Body: DML's Rick foster
Boonie hat: cut down DML nate
Weapons: DML
LBE: DML (butt pack is TUS)
ARVN Pack: TUS and moded by me

i hope you love this one like i loved doing it
 
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#6 ·
Great figure of a great man. I spoke with Riley Cox on the phone about 12 months ago, and he had me in hysterics with his wit and had me filled with respect with his honour and humbleness.

That mission you describe - if my memory serves me correct, Riley has had nigh on 20 major surgeries since then as a result of that encounter. A truly great man.

He told me the most honourable thing he has ever done, is 12 months after that incident, once he had recovered (took him 12 months to recover) he went straight back to his unit as he didn't want to let his friends down.

An excellent tribute. Well done :)
 
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