JUNE 22, 2026 – Army Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole was a 101st Airborne Division paratrooper who fought in the European Theater during World War II, where his valorous actions near Carentan, France, earned him the Medal of Honor.
Cole was born to Army Col. Clarence Leroy and Clara Hoff Cole, March 19, 1915, in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. His father served as an Army doctor and his mother was a teacher at the Mark Twain School in San Antonio. He had two siblings, Leroy and Mary.
In 1933, Cole graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio and joined the Army, July 1, 1934. Nearly one year later, June 26, 1935, he was honorably discharged to accept an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he played on the football team.
He married his childhood sweetheart Allie Mae Beall in 1940, and they had a son, Robert Bruce.
After graduating from West Point in 1939, he was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington. While serving there, he befriended Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, and later became the regimental executive officer.
After volunteering and being accepted for airborne duty in 1941, Cole was assigned to the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia, and trained to become a paratrooper. He earned his jump wings in March of that year.
The Army changed its command structure in the early 1940s to meet the demands of World War II, and the parachute battalions were divided into regiments. In 1942, Cole was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, and was subsequently appointed commander.
In 1943, the division sailed to England to prepare for Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. While there, he met his friend, Eisenhower, who was now a general and the Allied supreme commander.
A few days after D-Day, at the onset of the Battle of Carentan, June 10, 1944, Cole led his 400-man battalion in a single file line through an exposed raised road with marshes on both sides that led to the last four bridges over the Douve River floodplain and Carentan, France. The 101st Airborne Division had been ordered to seize Carentan and link up with the 29th Infantry Division.
German troops were dug in by hedgerows behind a large farmhouse. As the battalion advanced to the river, they were subjected to continuous fire from machine guns, artillery and mortars, sustaining many casualties. They came upon a mobile anti-tank obstacle, known as a Belgian gate, that only allowed one man to pass through at a time. After enduring a night of shelling and bombing, Cole’s remaining 265-man battalion moved through the obstacle and prepared for an assault, June 11, 1944. The German troops at the farmhouse continued to resist, so Cole ordered a bayonet charge that he led. The battalion engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, forcing the Germans to retreat but not without suffering 130 additional casualties. The assault became known as the “Cole Charge” and led to the establishment of a bridgehead across the Douve River and the capture of Carentan.
After the Battle of Carentan, Cole led his paratroopers into their next battle as part of Operation Market Garden, Sept. 17, 1944, when they parachuted into the Netherlands
Their mission was to secure bridges in Sint-Oedenrode, North Brabant, Netherlands, which they did. The battalion then moved out to the town of Best to secure railroad bridges.
On the morning of Sept. 18, 1944, his battalion faced fierce German opposition from small-arms fire and artillery in the Zonsche Forest. After radioing for air support, P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft arrived, firing at German positions — and hitting Cole’s battalion as well.
While the attack was underway, Cole was in the process of placing orange panels on the ground so that pilots could identify his battalion’s position. As he was in the process of doing this, a German sniper, hiding out in a barn, shot and killed Cole instantly.
He was buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, Netherlands, the only American cemetery in that country where more than 8,000 U.S. service members are buried.
Cole was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle of Carentan, June 11, 1944. He was also awarded the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.
“After the devastating and unceasing enemy fire had for over one hour prevented any move and inflicted numerous casualties, Lt. Col. Cole, observing this almost hopeless situation, courageously issued orders to assault the enemy positions with fixed bayonets,” Cole’s Medal of Honor citation reads. “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.”
Cole’s medal was presented by Army Maj. Gen. Jonathan W. Anderson to his mother on Oct. 30, 1944, during a ceremony at Fort Sam Houston on the same parade field where Cole once played as a child. Cole’s widow and 18-month-old son also attended.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, Army Maj. Gen. Maxwell Taylor, in a handwritten letter to Cole’s widow, wrote, “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.”
In his condolence note, Eisenhower wrote that Cole was “one of our ablest and certainly one of our most gallant officers,” according to the association.
During the Normandy invasion, a Stars and Stripes newspaper reporter mentioned that Cole was “a terror to German troops in the area of the Cherbourg peninsula,” according to an Oct. 30, 1944, article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.
Although Robert Bruce Cole was exempt from the draft as an only child and the son of a Medal of Honor recipient, he volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
His widow died Dec. 15, 2000, and is buried in a family plot at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Also buried there is their son, who died Dec. 5, 2024.
Robert G. Cole Middle and High School in San Antonio is named for him. A monument to Cole is at the location where he led his battalion in a bayonet charge and another monument to him is located near the spot he was killed. Also, plaques commemorating Cole’s leadership are in Best and Carentan. At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the 101st Airborne Division is based, there is a park, a golf course and a community activity center named after him.
By David Vergun
Pentagon News