War Department Citation: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

"For extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy on Okinawa Shima, on 28 May 1945. At about 0930, the 2d platoon of Company E, 306th Infantry, attacked a hill in the vicinity of Ishimmi, Okinawa. As the platoon reached the crest of the hill it was met with intense rifle fire and exploding grenades. Private Hickox, a rifleman, saw that the grenades and rifle fire were coming from a pillbox which he had observed on the other side of the crest. Without waiting for orders and without thought for his personal safety, he rushed over the crest and charged towards the pillbox, As he neared the entrance, he saw seven of the enemy in and about the position. Firing from his hip, without slowing his advance, Private Hickox killed three Japanese soldiers. The others returned his fire and threw grenades at him and, although the bullets kicked up dust around him and the grenades hit dangerously close, he continued to move forward. As he reached the entrance he raised his carbine to kill the remaining Japanese but the gun failed to function. Using it as a club, he beat his way into the entrance. As he knocked down one soldier, the carbine slipped from his grasp and flew out of reach. The enemy opposition, now reduced to one officer and two enlisted men, seeing Private Hickox without a weapon, started towards him . Undaunted, he used his helmet to fight off the officer who, with drawn saber, was rushing forward to kill him. As the encounter heightened in intensity, one of the enemy mortally wounded Private Hickox with a rifle shot. Despite his wound, and the three saber cuts he had received, Private Hickox continued to fight. When another rifleman reached him he found that Private Hickox almost unconscious, had driven the enemy back into the pillbox. The dazed and beaten foe were immediately killed. This action cleared the way for the platoon to move over the crest and completely annihilate the enemy. Private Hickox's indomitable courage and fearless aggressiveness, at the cost of his own life, was in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service".

At the time of his death Private Hickox was barely nineteen years of age.

 

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