|
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (7/11/2012) – He watched as
five Marines beside him dropped, struck by the sheer force of
insurgent machine gun fire. Within seconds, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole
joined his brothers as a three-round burst lifted his 200-pound
frame and 80 pounds of gear completely off the ground, moved him
five feet in the air, and slammed him into the dirt– all in less
than half a second.
|
July 10, 2012 - Colonel Kenneth M. DeTreux,
the commanding officer of 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division,
shakes the hand of Woodstock, Ga., native Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole
(right) after presenting him with the nation's third highest award
for valor, the Silver Star. Courtesy photo by U.S. Marine
Corps
Marines apply a tourniquet and pressure dressing to Woodstock, Ga., native, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole (center) after he was shot twice in the left arm. This photo was taken during a firefight
(August 17, 2010) in Marjah
Afghanistan after a patrol came under fire from enemy insurgents.
Six of the 10 service members on the patrol were wounded, yet Cole
continued to provide suppressing fire toward enemy positions to
ensure the safety of his fellow Marines. Courtesy photo by U.S.
Marine Corps
Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole's Sliver Star and
certificate
Photo by USMC Photo by Cpl. Jeff Drew
|
|
The Woodstock, Ga., native had taken three rounds into the
ceramic plates protecting his body from small-arms fire. He was
down, but not wounded. The injured Marines made their way into a
nearby canal for cover as Cole provided suppressive fire with his
rifle. With half of the Marines on the patrol wounded, they tried
calling for extraction on the radio, but couldn't reach anyone. No
help was on the way and approximately 20 insurgents entrenched only
30 meters from their position were headed in their direction and
they were out for blood.
The morning of August 17, 2010
started early for Cole. He woke at 4 a.m. to stand four hours of
guard duty. As he finished his time on post, an early morning patrol
returned and he helped cook food for them before cleaning his rifle
and restocking on water. He heard through the grapevine about
another patrol going out soon and he wanted in on the action. In the
three and a half weeks that his unit, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine
Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, had been in country, Cole had already
been on 46 missions, luckily without incident.
The patrol
that changed his life indefinitely consisted of six Marines from his
squad as well as a Navy corpsman and three Marines from a
Professional Mentor Team, a group primarily responsible for training
and working with Afghan National Security Forces. It was a
reconnaissance mission – to photograph the local landscape and
populace and learn as much as they could about the area. At 1:30
p.m., the patrol made their way to a location they had been just the
night before. They spoke with local Afghans and searched mud
compounds. Around 3:30 p.m., they left the final compound; a crack
of gunfire filled the air and they found themselves in the fight for
their lives. The patrol was pinned down by heavy enemy fire; five
Marines were wounded and they were unable to contact anyone on the
radio.
“Thirty minutes into the firefight, I heard screams
that the enemy was advancing toward us,” Cole said as he recounted
his actions that day. “I took a machine gun from my buddy who was
shot and gave him my rifle. I put the machine gun in my shoulder and
started firing. Then I got up on the road and shot from my hip in a
sweeping motion from left to right. I shot 150 rounds off, and as I
did, I was shot three more times. A round hit my plates again and
two rounds went through my arm.”“This time it felt like a
sunburn,” Cole said as he remembered the feeling of the rounds
penetrating his arm. “My bone vibrated and severed my nerve and blew
out the inside of my upper arm, I couldn't feel anything. It spun me
around and threw me into the ditch.”
Immediately the Marines
put a tourniquet on the wounded Cole in an effort to stop the
bleeding. As the sixth injured service member, the Marines knew they
had to move – quickly. They made their way into a nearby compound as
enemy fire dug into the mud walls. The enemy was advancing and all
Cole could hear were the calls over the radio.
“All
channels, anywhere, anything around us that can receive us – we need
help now!”
|
Another tourniquet and a pressure dressing were
applied to his arm, but he was still losing blood – time was running
out. Despite his grievous wounds, Cole continued to provide accurate
suppressive fire on the enemy making sure the Marines on patrol
remained covered and safe.
As if by some miracle, the sound
of attack helicopters broke through the cloud of gunfire. The
Marines, running low on ammunition and badly wounded, continued to
return fire as their air support offered protection for a medical
evacuation. A British CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter landed under heavy
fire from the nearby insurgents. The Marines, supporting one
another, staggered toward the rescue helicopter in the midst of
enemy fire and climbed aboard.
Cole was flown to Camp Bastion
where he immediately went into surgery. Nearly 18 hours later he was
stabilized. The call that he was injured went out to his family and
his brother was grateful that his older sibling hadn't been more
seriously wounded.
“My mom called me at work and told me I
needed to come home,” said 20-year-old Perris Cole. “The first thing
I asked was, ‘Is he alive?' she said, ‘Yeah,” and then we had to
wait six or seven days for him to get back to the states. We were
just impatient, waiting. I was scared, but I was just happy he was
alive.”
After a short stay at Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Cole joined the Wounded Warrior
Battalion – East on Camp Lejeune and began the journey to recovery.
Cole was awarded the Silver Star, the Nation's third highest
award for valor July 10 for his actions that day. He adamantly
admits that he is not a hero and that when he decided to stand up on
that road, he was just doing his job.
“I don't think I
deserve it,” Cole mentioned. “Nothing I did comes close to the
Marines I was with. Pinned down in a ditch, wounded, they fought for
an hour against an enemy that got within 30 meters. Not once did
they waiver. This award isn't my award. It's their award and all the
guys who we lost who can't wear it now, I'll wear it for them since
they can't.”
By USMC Cpl. Jeff Drew
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
Video of Marine LCpl. Jeffrey Cole discussing the combat actions
involving his heroics
Comment on article |
Silver Star Recipients
|
Other Heroes |
