Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
COLE, Rodney Caldwell - Date of
birth
22 August 1921 -
Age
23 -
Place of birth
Howard City, Montcalm County, Michigan -
Hometown
Wayland, Allegan County, Michigan
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
36412066 -
Rank
Private First Class -
Function
unknown -
Unit
G Company,
3rd Battalion,
325th Glider Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division
-
Awards
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
3 January 1945 - Place of
death
Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| F | 7 | 71 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Elias H. Cole (father)
Beatrice C. (Caldwell) Cole (mother)
Gordon E. Cole (brother)
More information
Pfc Rodney C. Cole graduated from Wayland High School in 1939 where he served as class president and was presented with the Good Citizen Key, which was one of the highest awards.He worked as a baker in his father's bakery before he enlisted in Kalamazoo, Michigan on 25 November 1942.
He was first stationed in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before landing in France during the D Day Invasion.
He was reported wounded in action on 9 June 1944 by shrapnel in his leg and sent to a hospital in England. He was released on 11 July 1944 and was back with his unit for Operation Market Garden.
Within a week in early January 1945, his mother, Beatrice, received word about her two sons. Gordon, serving as a medical aidman with the 7th Army had been wounded and Rodney was reported missing in action. On 9 March 1945, she was notified that Rodney had been killed.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - WWII Enlistment Record / 1930 Census, www.ww2-airborne.us, Kalamazoo Gazette - 28 May 1939, Wayland Globe - 1943-1945, Susan Linton
Photo source: Danny van der Groen, 1939 Wayland High School Yearbook, Daily Globe - March 1945, Then and Now Historical Library-Linda Stoepker - Dorr, Michigan