Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community
Image courtesy of the Cox family
Jaycee Rodeo Queen with Forrest Cox,
January 1961.
Forrest Cox at Luke Field,
May 1943.
From Hero to Homebuilder:
T
he year was 1943 when a severely
wounded fighter pilot named Forrest M.
Cox was sent to Luke Air Force Base to
recover following his service in World War II.
Although just 26 years old, the energetic
Carollton, Illinois native had already lived a
lifetime of adventure – traveling to Africa in
search of gold and to Sumatra and Java mining
for copper and lead, and into Britain’s Royal Air
Force (RAF) where he fought with the Dutch and
Chinese air forces before transferring to
the U.S. Army Air Corps in New Delhi,
India.
He also shared his life with a quiet and
bookish classic beauty named Phebe, who he
grew up with, pursued and later married.
“I think he just had an adventurist’s soul,” said
Cox’s daughter Hilda Cox. “He said he liked the
life of a pilot.”
And he was good at it too. Flying the
legendary Hurricanes and Spitfires in combat
against the German Luftwaffe in Europe, Cox
reached the rank of squadron leader, logged
more than 3,000 flying hours and was credited
with downing 17 enemy planes to become a
highly decorated and accomplished airman.
During one operation, Cox was shot down
and forced to land in China. The experience left
him with lifelong injuries, which many people
never knew he suffered.
Hilda, who now lives in Tempe, and her
brother Eugene “Gene” Cox, of Phoenix,
remember the large percentage of lung their
father lost and the long, deep scars that ran
down his chest, back, and leg. “He probably had
seven feet of scars,” Hilda recalled.
Still, the wounds didn’t stop their bright
and determined father from doing what he
loved – both in his career and in his life.
After briefly moving back home to Illinois,
Cox and Phebe fled the snow and
settled in Arizona.