Maddox, Kenneth G., 1919-1944.

"You have some missing and incorrect information on this page. My Uncle Kenny was with the 110th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. He was wounded on Dec. 17, 1944. His was in charge of the LONE gun crew defending the north road into Clervaux. The gun crew bravely held off a division of Panzer tanks coming down the north road with a single 57 MM gun while officers were destroying records in the division headquarters literally 800 yards away across the Our River. After being shot, he was captured by Nazis and taken to a Lazarette outside Clervaux that was being used as a German Field Hospital where he died of his wounds on Dec. 25th, 1944. Also, our Mother's family name is spelled Edmondson. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart posthumously and an administrative building was named for him at Ft. Knox, KY in 1945. Originally interred in the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg, his body was returned to the U.S. in 1948 and he is buried in the Maddox Family section of Evergreen Cemetery in Louisville, KY. His story of heroism is memorialized in Robert Phillips' book, To Save Bastogne."

Maddox was born in Louisville May 6, 1919. He joined the 38th Division's 138th Field Artillery in 1941. He was later assigned to the 28th Division. Following the Normandy invasion, his unit went to the front lines in France in 1944. By October, Maddox was in Germany. Employed on daily missions in the fall and winter campaigns, Maddox's troops moved to Luxembourg in November. Maddox was fatally wounded while commanding an anti-tank crew defending Clervaux, Luxembourg, December 18 in the Battle of the Bulge. He died Christmas Day in a German field hospital.

Biographical note: Kenneth G. Maddox was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 6, 1919. He enlisted in the army in 1941, joining the 138th Field Artillery of the Thrity-Eighth Division. He attended officer training school and graduated as a second lieutenant. He was later assigned to the Twenty-Eighth Division, known as the "Keystone Division," and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.

Maddox was posted to England. Following the Normandy invasion, his unit went to the front lines in France (1944). The division participated in the liberation of Paris. By October 1, Maddox was in Germany. Employed on a mission ever day in the campaigns of that fall and winter, Maddox and his troops moved to Luxembourg in November.

Maddox commanded an anti-tank gun crew defending a bridge to Clervaux, Luxembourg on December 18, in the Battle of the Bulge, which had commenced two days earlier. Maddox alone saw an approaching German soldier coming to attack the crew from the rear. Maddox exchanged fire with the German and both men were hit. According to American witnesses, the German fell down a cliff. The American crew was forced to leave Maddox behind and flee the area by scaling the cliff. Maddox was evacuated to a German field hospital where he died of his wounds or of complications on December 25, 1944.