Marines apply a tourniquet and dressing to the arm of Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole after he was shot twice during an August 2010 firefight in Marjah, Afghanistan. Cole has received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor, for his actions. Marine Corps
Silver Star Recipient Recalls Marjah Attack -- Marine Times
Pinned down in a canal under fire and without working radios, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole made a decision: He would face the Taliban with an M240B machine gun.
His patrol, consisting of nine Marines and a Navy corpsman, had been ambushed on a mission launched from Patrol Base Moose in Marjah, Afghanistan, on Aug. 17, 2010. The attack was swift, with about 20 insurgents opening fire at distances of 30 to 100 meters. Cole, a machine gunner with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., was hit three times in the body armor. His fellow Marines didn’t fare nearly as well: five of them sustained gunshot wounds.
On Tuesday, Cole received the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for valor, for his actions in the following minutes of the firefight. Under heavy gunfire, he traded his M16A4 rifle for the machine gun of wounded Lance Cpl. Brett Barrowman, and popped out of the canal ready to fight. Cole, then 20, squeezed off a few rounds, then poured lead at insurgents 100 meters away.
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My Comment: The best part of this report is the last paragraph ....
.... “It’s not a good feeling that I got that award because I definitely don’t feel like I deserved it,” he said. “Those Marines saved my life. All of us are alive, really, because of what they did, not because of what I did. I want them to get the recognition, not me.”
They have received their recognition .... through you .... and thankfully everyone survived to tell the story.
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