When Ora C. Cole was born on June 12, 1892, his father, William, was 37 and his mother, Emma, was 36. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was unmarried and a farmer by occupation. He worked for Harold Brooks on a Dallas tp., farm and was selected for service and ordered to Camp Sherman by the Crawford county Draft Board in October, leaving Bucyrus on the morning of October 5, 1917 with 46 other selected men from the county. He was the youngest child in the family.

He was transferred from Camp Sherman to Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark., a few weeks after reaching Chillcothe. Private Cole was transferred to another unit and sent to France. His expertness as a rifle shot got him this transfer, but it parted him from his chum.

He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Private in Company L, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action but declared "Missing" on July 18, 1918 and is memorialized on Tablets of the Missing, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France.

Source of information: www.abmc.gov, www.ancestry.com