Darrell S. Cole

In 1996 the United States Navy named USS Cole (DDG-67), a destroyer, in his honor. This destroyer was damaged in a suicide attack in Yemen but subsequently repaired and is currently in service.

The second USS Cole (DDG-67), an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer was named for Sergeant Cole. Cole is homeported in NS Norfolk, Virginia. The ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding and delivered to the Navy on March 11, 1996. On October 12, 2000, Cole was damaged by a suicide attack in an act of terrorism while harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. The first USS Cole (DD-155), launched in 1919, was named for a Marine who was killed in World War I.

Cole was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to his widow on April 17, 1947. The citation reads as follows.

The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the United States and the Japanese Empire, in February and March 1945 during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Ground fighting on the island took place over approximately 36 days; lasting from the landings of February 17 to a final Japanese charge the morning of March 26, 1945. The U.S. invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was charged with the mission of capturing the island's airfields. The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels.

After Guadalcanal, Cole served in several more battles throughout the Pacific theatre, including the battles of Kwajalein, Saipan and Tinian. The United States launched an assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north from January 31, 1944, to February 3, 1944. The Japanese defenders put up a stiff resistance though outnumbered and under-prepared. Although the United States won the battle the determined defenses of Roi-Namur left only 51 Japanese survivors of an original garrison of 3,500. During this engagement of the 4th Division Cole, again forsaking his bugle, stepped in as a machine-gunner.

When fighting began on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from July 24 to August 1, 1944, Cole's unit was sent in a few days after the battle began. Cole again led his squad ashore in the invasion and defeat of the neighboring islands of Tinian; and continued to build his reputation as "The Fighting Field Musician."

The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean, between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War. It was after the Marianas campaign, that he submitted a request for a change of rating for the third time. Pointing out his experience and combat record, he stated that he felt he would be of more benefit to the Marine Corps performing line duties than those of field music. This time his request was approved and he was redesignated Corporal and subsequently promoted to Sergeant in November 1944.

After completing his first overseas tour, he returned to the United States in February 1943 and was assigned to the First Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. When his unit moved to California he again asked for relief as a field musician; and for permission to perform line duties. Again, due to the shortage of buglers in the Marine Corps, his request was denied. Throughout the course of World War II, until his death on Iwo Jima, Cole participated in several battles and campaigns as a machine-gunner and was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1944.

The Battle of Guadalcanal, was fought between August 7, 1942, and February 7, 1943, in the Pacific theatre of World War II and was the first major offensive launched by allied forces against the Empire of Japan. Cole arrived on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942, for the first American offensive of World War II; and his first opportunity to fill in as a machine-gunner in the absence of the regular gunner.

On August 25, 1941, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Following United States Marine Corps Recruit Training at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina, he was appointed to the Field Music School for training as a Marine Corps Field Musician (a bugler). He was unhappy with being a field musician because he had joined the Marine Corps to fight. He applied for a change in rating to be a machine-gunner, but was refused due to the shortage of buglers. After completing field music school, he was transferred to the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

Sergeant Darrell Samuel Cole (July 20, 1920 – February 19, 1945) is a United States Marine who posthumously received the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his conspicuous gallantry at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.

Darrell Cole was born July 20, 1920, in Esther (now part of Park Hills), Missouri. He attended high school in Esther, graduating in 1938. Before graduating, his main interests were sports; particularly basketball, hunting and photography. He also learned to play the french horn which later led to him being assigned as a bugler.