Robert “Bob” Cole was born at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, the son of COL Leroy Cole, MD, an Army physician, and Clara, a schoolteacher. He had a brother and sister, Leroy and Mary.
He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and then enlisted in the Army. A year later he was honorably discharged in order to received an appointment to the USMA at West Point, where he excelled in leadership and played football.
After graduating West Point in 1939, he married his sweetheart, Allie Mae and they later had a son, Robert Bruce.
Commissioned a second lieutenant out of the USMA, he was initially assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1941, Bob became a paratrooper with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, and earned his jump wings in March. In 1942, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He rose rapidly through the ranks, and ahead of the D-Day invasion, then-Lieutenant Colonel Cole was the commander of the 3rd Battalion.
In late 1943, the 101st shipped out for England ahead of Operation Overlord, the invasion at Normandy, France.
Days after the D-Day invasion, Bob led his 400-man battalion into the Battle of Carentan in France, where they suffered significant casualties from dug-in German positions. The second day of the battle, 11 June, he moved his remaining 265-man forward to clear those positions, again facing fierce resistance and losing another 130 casualties. He led a bayonet charge on one fortified position, which became known as the “Cole Charge.” That led to a bridgehead to cross the Douve River and, ultimately, the capture of Carentan.
Stars and Stripes mentioned Bob after D-Day, noting he was “a terror to German troops in the area of the Cherbourg peninsula.”
His next major engagement was 17 September 1944, leading his paratroopers into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. Their initial mission was to secure bridge access to Sint-Oedenrode and then to railroad bridges outside the town of Best.
On 18 September, facing overwhelming German artillery and small-arms fire in the Zonsche Forest, Bob called for air support. Unfortunately, a P-47, when striking the enemy positions, also hit Cole’s Battalion. He set out amid enemy fire to place orange marker panels to protect his battalion position. While doing so, he was killed by a German sniper.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his prior actions at Carentan.
According to his Medal of Honor citation:
[Cole] was personally leading his battalion in forcing the last four bridges on the road to Carentan when his entire unit was suddenly pinned down to the ground by intense and withering enemy rifle, machine-gun, mortar, and artillery fire placed upon them from well-prepared and heavily fortified positions within 150 yards of the foremost elements. After the devastating and unceasing enemy fire had for over one hour prevented any move and inflicted numerous casualties, LTC Cole, observing this almost hopeless situation, courageously issued orders to assault the enemy positions with fixed bayonets. With utter disregard for his own safety and completely ignoring the enemy fire, he rose to his feet in front of his battalion and with drawn pistol shouted to his men to follow him in the assault. Catching up a fallen man’s rifle and bayonet, he charged on and led the remnants of his battalion across the bullet-swept open ground and into the enemy position.
His citation concludes: “His heroic and valiant action in so inspiring his men resulted in the complete establishment of our bridgehead across the Douve River. The cool fearlessness, personal bravery, and outstanding leadership displayed by LTC Cole reflect great credit upon himself and are worthy of the highest praise in the military service.”
His medal was presented to his mother at a ceremony at Fort Sam Houston in October 1944, with his widow Allie Mae and their 18-month-old son in attendance. The presentation was on the parade field where Bob had played as a child.
In a letter to Allie Mae, GEN Dwight Eisenhower wrote that Cole was “one of our ablest and certainly one of our most gallant officers.” A second letter from MG Maxwell Taylor noted: “Bob was our ideal airborne soldier. His courage was legendary, and his hold on his rugged parachutists is an example which few other commanders ever attained.”
He was buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, among more than 8,000 U.S. service members.
Despite having a draft exemption as the only child of a Medal of Honor recipient, Bob’s son, Robert Bruce Cole, volunteered to serve as a Marine during the Vietnam War.
At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division, a park, golf course, and community center bear his name.
LTC Robert G. Cole: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. His example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.
“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for our nation’s Veterans, First Responders, and their families.
(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
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