Fox, Noel Bleecker

Noel Bleecker Fox, a passed Bronxville resident who resided at 24 Avon Road, was Clifford Milton Markle’s brother-in-law. He had a long military career having served in WWI and then early in WWII, retired and became Air Raid Warden in Bronxville.

He was with Squadron A of the NY National Guard and served with them on the Mexican border in 1916. From 1917-1918 he served in the Field Artillery in France during WWI, first as a captain, then promoted to major. He was in the campaigns of the 77th Division in the Vosges and on the Vesle. In 1918, as a major in command of Fort Sill, OK he was promoted to lieutenant colonel there, and later promoted to full colonel.

Each summer of her childhood, Jane Fox Neighbors, Noel’s daughter, recalls he was in command of a group at Pine Camp in upstate NY (near Watertown), which later became Camp Drum and is now Fort Drum.

Early in WWII with the huge influx of troops, he was asked to resign to leave room for others to be promoted, so he came Col. Noel Bleecker Fox, US Army Ret.

Like his brother-in-law, Clifford Markle, who tried to get into every branch of service before joining the Red Cross ambulance corps, Noel Bleecker Fox really wanted to serve in the military during WWII. But instead, he became an air raid warden, walking the streets of Bronxville in his helmet and with a flashlight, checking to be sure no light was escaping from anyone’s blackout curtains.