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Darrell
Samuel Cole was born on 20 July 1920 in Flat River, Missouri. After
graduating from high school in Esther, Missouri, he worked for the Civilian
Conservation Corps as a forestry clerk and later was a machine operator in
Detroit, Michigan. In August 1941, Cole enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve
and was sent to Parris Island, South Carolina for training, becoming a bugler
after attending the Field Music School. He was transferred to the 1st
Marines, 1st Marine Division and courageously participated in the Guadalcanal
Campaign that began in August 1942, performing more like a machine gunner
than a bugler. Immediately after the campaign, Cole put in for a transfer to
perform the "regular duties" of a Marine Private First Class, but
his request was denied "due to a shortage of field musics." He
joined the 1st Battalion, 23d Marines, 4th Marine Division at Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina in March 1943. In early February 1944, after another
unsuccessful request for a occupational transfer, Cole participated in the
invasion of Roi-Namur, on Kwajalein Atoll, again assuming duties as a machine
gunner. His division then assigned him as a machine gun leader during the
assaults on Saipan and Tinian in June and July 1944. When his squad leader
was killed during a battle, Cole assumed command of the squad. For his combat
performance on Saipan, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Following the Marianas Campaign, Cole again requested a rating change. This
time, his bravery and fighting skills were rewarded with approval of the
application and, in November 1944, by promotion to Sergeant. By the time the
4th Division took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945, he
was serving as leader of a machine-gun section. In the face of tremendous
small-arms, artillery and mortar fire that day, Cole led his men against
Japanese defenses. After the unit's progress was halted by three enemy
pillboxes, he resumed the advance, at times by himself. Armed with only a
pistol and grenades, he made a series of attacks against the hostile
strongpoints. His third assault destroyed the Japanese position, but Cole was
killed while making his way back to his squad. For his "conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity" and "stouthearted leadership in the face
of almost certain death", Darrell S. Cole was awarded the Medal of
Honor.
Medal of Honor
citation of Sergeant Darrell Samuel Cole, USMCR
(as printed in the
official publication "Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy", page
168):
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty while serving as Leader of a Machine-gun Section
of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-third Marines, FOURTH Marine Division,
in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault on Iwo Jima in the
Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. Assailed by a tremendous volume of
small-arms, mortar and artillery fire as he advanced with one squad of his
section in the initial assault wave, Sergeant Cole boldly led his men up the
sloping beach toward Airfield No. 1 despite the blanketing curtain of flying
shrapnel and, personally destroying with hand grenades two hostile
emplacements which menaced the progress of his unit, continued to move
forward until a merciless barrage of fire emanating from three Japanese
pillboxes halted the advance. Instantly placing his one remaining machine in
action, he delivered a shattering fusillade and succeeded in silencing the
nearest and most threatening emplacement before his weapon jammed and the
enemy, reopening fire with knee mortars and grenades, pinned down his unit
for the second time. Shrewdly gaging the tactical situation and evolving a
daring plan of counterattack, Sergeant Cole, armed solely with a pistol and
one grenade, coolly advanced alone to the hostile pillboxes. Hurling his one
grenade at the enemy in sudden, swift attack, he quickly withdrew, returned
to his own lines for additional grenades and again advanced, attacked and
withdrew. With enemy guns still active, he ran the gantlet of slashing fire a
third time to complete the total destruction of the Japanese strong point and
the annihilation of the defending garrison in this final assault. Although
instantly killed by an enemy grenade as he returned to his squad, Sergeant
Cole had eliminated a formidable Japanese position, thereby enabling his
company to storm the remaining fortifications, continue the advance, and
seize the objective. By his dauntless initiative, unfaltering courage and
indomitable determination during a critical period of action, Sergeant Cole
served as an inspiration to his comrades, and his stout-hearted leadership in
the face of almost certain death sustained and enhanced the highest tradition
of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his
country."
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On 12 October
2000, while at anchor in Aden, the Cole was attacked by Al-Qaeda suicide
bombers, who sailed a small boat near the destroyer and detonated explosive
charges. The blast created a hole in the port side of the ship about 40 feet
(12 m) in diameter, killing 17 crewmembers and injuring 39. The ship was
under the command of Commander Kirk Lippold.
Cole was returned to the United States aboard the Norwegian heavy-lift vessel
MV Blue Marlin owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway. The ship was
off-loaded 13 December 2000 from Blue Marlin in a pre-dredged deep-water
facility at the Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard of Northrop Grumman Ship
Systems, Ingalls Operations. After 14 months of repair, Cole departed on 19
April 2002, and returned to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.
The U.S. government offered a reward of up to US$5 million for information
leading to the arrest of people who committed or aided in the attack on Cole.
Al-Qaeda was suspected of targeting Cole because of the failure of a 3
January 2000 attack on USS The Sullivans, one of the 2000 millennium attack
plots. On 4 November 2002, Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi, a suspected al-Qaida
operative, who is believed to have planned the Cole attack, was killed by the
CIA using an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched from an MQ-1 Predator drone.
On 29 November 2003 Cole deployed for her first overseas deployment after the
bombing and subsequently returned to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia on 27
May 2004 without incident. In 2005 Cole participated in BALTOPS 05 with the
Baltic Nations. Cole returned to the US in early July and was able to attend
Fourth of July Celebrations in Philadelphia.
The Cole deployed to the Middle East on 8 June 2006 for the first time since
the bombing. While passing the port city of Aden the crew manned the rails to
honor the crewmembers killed in the bombing. She returned to her homeport of
Norfolk on 6 December 2006 without incident.
On 21 August 2006, the Associated Press reported that the Cole's commanding
officer at the time of the bombing, Commander Kirk Lippold, was denied
promotion to the rank of Captain.
On 28 February 2008, the Cole was sent to take station off Lebanon's coast,
the first of an anticipated three-ship flotilla.
On November 12, 2009, the Missile Defense Agency announced that the Cole
would be upgraded during fiscal 2013 to RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3)
capability in order to function as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile
Defense System.
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