A native of Missouri, he served nearly 33 years as a United States Marine Corps naval aviator before retiring with the rank of Major General.

[2][3] Despite the death of his father when he was just nineteen years old, Cox was able to attend Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in May 1952.

[2] John V. Cox was commissioned a Marine Corps second lieutenant upon his graduation from Officers Basic School in September, 1952 and was assigned to naval aviator training shortly afterward.

Now a Lieutenant Colonel, Cox returned to Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 for a second tour of duty as both commander of VMFA-115 and executive officer of Marine Aircraft Group 13, stationed at Chu Lai Air Base.

In June of that year General Cox began his final assignment in the Marine Corps as Director of Operations (J-3) for the Commander in Chief at Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii.

During his career he amassed 5,043 hours total flight time and was a rated pilot in nearly every Marine Corps fixed-wing aircraft of the Cold War era, including the F6F Hellcat, AD-4 Skyraider, FJ-4 Fury, F8U Crusader, and F-4 Phantom II.