World War II Honoree

Duane Oliver Cole

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Niles, Michigan

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps September 4, 1941 at Minneapolis, Minnesota, completing basic training with the First Recruit Battalion Recruit Depot; Marine Corps Base San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton Oceanside, California for combat training. Following infantry training, he served as a Squad Leader with Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment a subordinate unit of the Second Marine Division Location: Central Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio, Tarawa Atoll; Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action or buried at sea Saturday, November 20, 1943 succeeding the attack. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. In June of 2015 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency laboratory in Honolulu where he was identified. His family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery Location: Spooner, Wisconsin, with interment October 3, 2020. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.