Valor Friday

During last week’s missile attack by Iran on Israel, two US Navy ships were tasked with aiding the intercept of the missiles. They were USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) and USS Cole (DDG-67). Here’s some video of Bulkeley in action. Both warships are named for American heroes. USS Cole is best remembered for surviving a suicide bombing attack on 12 October 2000, almost exactly 24 years ago now.

While you know that Cole was saved by her gallant crew, and eventually returned to service, you might not be familiar with the story of her namesake. Darrel S Cole was a 24-year old Marine Corps sergeant when he was killed in action on Iwo Jima. Moments before he was killed by an enemy grenade, he had successfully charge two enemy gun emplacements that had halted his company. Assaulting them single-handedly, he went after them with just a sidearm and single grenade when his machine gun team’s gun jammed. The action earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor.

Cole, who had played French horn as a young man, was initially made a bugler in the service. He unsuccessfully petitioned to be moved to a combat MOS, but was repeatedly denied. Despite that, he made himself a machinegunner and fought at Guadalcanal, Tinian, and Saipan before finally being reclassed before Iwo.

Here’s Sergeant Cole’s MoH award citation;

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 Number One 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 gun 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 gauging 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 gauntlet 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 stouthearted leadership in the face of almost certain death sustained and enhanced the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

USS Bulkeley is named for Vice Admiral John D Bulkeley. If you haven’t heard of the Admiral, then you’ll want to read my previous writing about the man. He’s a hero of the early days of American involvement in World War II, having been the skipper of a motor torpedo boat squadron, and the commander of one of the squadron’s PT boats. Among the many things he did in those heady early days in and around the beleaguered Philippines, he evacuated MacArthur.

Bulkeley’s exploits were made into a book, 1942’s They Were Expendable by William Lindsay White. Ostensibly a work of fiction, Bulkeley’s character was Lieutenant John “Brick” Brickley, and his squadron XO (and skipper of PT-34) Robert Kelly was characterized as Lieutenant, Junior Grade “Rusty” Ryan.

In 1945, director John Ford (then a USN captain) brought the book to the silver screen. The film, also called They Were Expendable, starred Robert Montgomery (then still a commander in the USN) as Brickley, John Wayne as Ryan, and included a supporting cast with the ever-beautiful Donna Reed. The movie is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it. It’s a great example of wartime Hollywood, produced with the support and active participation of the Navy.

Robert Kelly (the real life John Wayne character) was a recipient of the Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, and the Silver Star for his actions during this time. Later in the war he’d earn another Silver Star, and eventually retire as a captain.

Montgomery, who portrayed the fictionalized Bulkeley in the film, was a well-established Hollywood star before the war. At age 35, when Europe went to war in 1939, he went to London and enlisted with the American Field Service. The AFS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that had run a combat ambulance service during the First World War. They mobilized again for that purpose for the Second World War, and Montgomery served as an ambulance driver. He saw service in action in France until the Dunkirk Evacuation.

After Dunkirk, he returned to the states, and helped drum up support for the American Red Cross. He had some on-screen roles around this time (including Hitchcock’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith and an Oscar-nominated performance in Here Comes Mr. Jordan). He enlisted into the US Navy after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war he’d serve on the staff of the commander of Destroyer Squadrons 5 and 60; commanding officer PT-107; aboard the light cruiser USS Columbia; as an assistant naval attache at the U.S. Embassy, London; and as the executive officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 5 (PT-5).

Montgomery led Pt-107 during the time when she fought in the Solomon Islands. He would have been very familiar with John Bulkeley, and helped bring a level of realism to the role. For his wartime service he earned a Bronze Star Medal w/ “V”, among other awards.

Towards the end of the movie They Were Expendable there’s a scene in which the surviving Navy men make their escape aboard a USAAF C-47 Skytrain. Since the aircraft’s tail number was visible, I thought I’d see what happened to her.

She survived the war, and remained in service until 1970. It’s remarkable the longevity of the C-47/DC-3 (many are still in active service around the world). 43-15583 was lost in an accident over South Vietnam. It looks like she was on a training mission when the crew lost control after an in-flight engine failure. Of the four men aboard, one died, and three were injured.

Category: Historical, Navy, We Remember, WWII