thedrifter
01-04-07, 10:18 AM
Thurmont Marine honored for bravery
Published on January 4, 2007
By Alison Walker-Baird
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- Don't call one Marine from Thurmont a hero. He jumped into a burning Humvee, flames inches from the gas tank, to drive the vehicle away from his fellow Marines -- but he shrugs off talk of valor and bravery.
Lance Cpl. Michael Cole, 19, is an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Wilson at 29 Palms, Calif. He was home on leave this week and returns to California today.
Marine Maj. Gen. David Bice awarded Cpl. Cole the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in late December for his second-nature actions that saved the day -- and possibly several lives -- Nov. 24.
Cpl. Cole was working in an ammunition storage unit that Friday when another Marine drove up in a Humvee the corporal was scheduled to use next.
Cpl. Cole spotted smoke coming from the passenger seat, where the Humvee battery is stored; he and other Marines discovered an electrical fire. One Marine ran to get a fire extinguisher to put out the sparks.
The fire spread to the underside of the vehicle, near the diesel tank. Cpl. Cole grabbed a second fire extinguisher but it was the wrong type and wouldn't put out the flames.
Spurred into a quick decision, he jumped into the vehicle and drove it out of the ammunition-filled area. Another Marine grabbed a nearby extinguisher and Cpl. Cole was finally able to put out the fire.
If the Humvee had exploded, Cpl. Cole realized, he'd as likely have died standing nearby as driving it away, he said Tuesday.
"I was just getting away," he said. "If it went off I probably wouldn't be here."
Cpl. Cole's father, Ronald Cole of Thurmont, said he is proud of his son but worries about what might have happened that day in November.
"It could have gone the other way if everything had blown up," he said.
Mr. Cole said his son, a Catoctin High School graduate, joined the Marine Corps in August 2005 to further his education, but he also has become an upstanding man.
"Michael's the kind of guy who looks out for everybody he's with," Mr. Cole said. "He thought fast enough to try to get them out of the way."
Ellie
Published on January 4, 2007
By Alison Walker-Baird
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- Don't call one Marine from Thurmont a hero. He jumped into a burning Humvee, flames inches from the gas tank, to drive the vehicle away from his fellow Marines -- but he shrugs off talk of valor and bravery.
Lance Cpl. Michael Cole, 19, is an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Wilson at 29 Palms, Calif. He was home on leave this week and returns to California today.
Marine Maj. Gen. David Bice awarded Cpl. Cole the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in late December for his second-nature actions that saved the day -- and possibly several lives -- Nov. 24.
Cpl. Cole was working in an ammunition storage unit that Friday when another Marine drove up in a Humvee the corporal was scheduled to use next.
Cpl. Cole spotted smoke coming from the passenger seat, where the Humvee battery is stored; he and other Marines discovered an electrical fire. One Marine ran to get a fire extinguisher to put out the sparks.
The fire spread to the underside of the vehicle, near the diesel tank. Cpl. Cole grabbed a second fire extinguisher but it was the wrong type and wouldn't put out the flames.
Spurred into a quick decision, he jumped into the vehicle and drove it out of the ammunition-filled area. Another Marine grabbed a nearby extinguisher and Cpl. Cole was finally able to put out the fire.
If the Humvee had exploded, Cpl. Cole realized, he'd as likely have died standing nearby as driving it away, he said Tuesday.
"I was just getting away," he said. "If it went off I probably wouldn't be here."
Cpl. Cole's father, Ronald Cole of Thurmont, said he is proud of his son but worries about what might have happened that day in November.
"It could have gone the other way if everything had blown up," he said.
Mr. Cole said his son, a Catoctin High School graduate, joined the Marine Corps in August 2005 to further his education, but he also has become an upstanding man.
"Michael's the kind of guy who looks out for everybody he's with," Mr. Cole said. "He thought fast enough to try to get them out of the way."
Ellie