This overpass is named in honour of F/Lt Charles Fox, DFC and Bar, CD.
Charles Fox was born in February 1920 in Guelph ON. He attended Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute and joined the military soon after the start of the Second World War. He completed pilot training in 1941, graduating near the top of his class. His training success and his natural abilities led him to being assigned as a flight instructor in Dunnville ON from October 1941 to March 1943 after which he was transferred to an operational training school at Bagotville QC to undertake combat training.
In August 1943, he was transferred to Europe and trained on Spitfires. In January 1944, Charley Fox was assigned to 412 Squadron, RCAF and over the next few months, undertook numerous escort, armed recce and dive-bombing sorties. On D-Day alone, he flew three missions. On 18 June, 412 Squadron began flying operations from an airstrip at Beny-sur-Mer in Normandy and on 17 July 1944, Fox completed a mission that would garner world-wide attention. On this occasion, he undertook an armed reconnaissance mission and strafed an unknown black staff car; he later learned that one of the passengers was German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was seriously injured in the attack. Two other pilots (RAF and RAAF) also claimed responsibility but a 2004 study concluded that Fox had most likely delivered the damaging blow. He flew numerous missions during the 1944 summer offensive and was awarded the DFC for his "exceptional courage and skill in pressing home his attacks against the enemy".
Fox concluded his operational tour in January 1945 having flown 224 operational sorties and in February he was awarded a Bar to his DFC. He returned to Canada in August and after his wartime experience, Fox continued to serve with 420 Squadron (Reserve), flying Harvards, Mustangs and the early jet fighters. He later transferred to fighter controller duties, finally completing his service in May 1961. Fox was appointed Honorary Colonel of 412 Squadron in April 2004. He died in a car accident near Tillsonburg, Ontario, on 18 October 2008.
