Maddox was born in Louisville May 6, 1919. He enlisted in the army in 1941, joining the 138th Field Artillery of the 38th Division. Maddox attended Officer Training School and graduated as a second lieutenant. He was later assigned to the 28th Division, known as the "Keystone Division," and received promotion to the rank of first lieutenant.

Maddox was posted to England. Following the Normandy invasion, his unit went to the front lines in France in 1944. The division participated in the liberation of Paris. By October 1, Maddox was in Germany. Employed on a mission every 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, December 18 in the Battle of the Bulge, which had commenced two days earlier. The officer alone saw an approaching German soldier coming to attack the crew from the rear. After shouting an unheard warning, Maddox exchanged fire with the German. Both men were hit. The German fell down a cliff, according to the American witnesses. The American crew was forced to leave their wounded commander behind and flee the area by scaling the cliff. Maddox was evacuated to a German field hospital where he died of his wounds or complications on Christmas Day, December 25.

Kentucky Historical Society Archive

Ayn Maddox, Niece/Nephew