Sergeant Darrell Samuel Cole (July 20, 1920 – February 19, 1945) is a United States Marine who posthumously received the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his conspicuous gallantry at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Although he was originally assigned to play the bugle, Sergeant Cole repeatedly requested that his rating be changed from field musician to machine-gunner. Although rated as a bugler he fought as a machine-gunner in several major campaigns of World War II including Guadalcanal, Tinian, and Saipan. On his fourth request to change his rating to machine-gunner the request was approved 4 months before he was sent into combat again on Iwo Jima. During the battle, Cole made a successful one-man attack against two gun emplacements impeding the advance of his company. Upon returning to his squad, he was killed by an enemy grenade. In 1996 the United States Navy named , a destroyer, in his honor. This destroyer was damaged in a suicide attack in Yemen but subsequently repaired and is currently in service. Early life Darrell Cole was born July 20, 1920, in Esther (now part of Park Hills), Missouri. He attended high school in Esther, graduating in 1938. Before graduating, his main interests were sports; particularly basketball, hunting and photography. He also learned to play the french horn which later led to him being assigned as a bugler. After graduating from high school, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), where he became an assistant forestry clerk and assistant educational advisor for his company. He left after one year and he went to Detroit, Michigan where he worked at a company that made engine gaskets. Military service On August 25, 1941, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Following United States Marine Corps Recruit Training at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina, he was appointed to the Field Music School for training as a Marine Corps Field Musician (a bugler). He was unhappy with being a field musician because he had joined the Marine Corps to fight. He applied for a change in rating to be a machine-gunner, but was refused due to the shortage of buglers. After completing field music school, he was transferred to the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. After completing his first overseas tour, he returned to the United States in February 1943 and was assigned to the First Battalion, 23rd Marines,