George Leo Cottrell, Jr. (1923-1944)

George Cottrell was born in Wilmington, Delaware in August, 1923 but grew up at the home of his grandmother in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Here he graduated from high school in 1942. He entered Dickinson on the accelerated degree plan with the class of 1946 but withdrew after the fall and winter sessions to enlist with the United States Marine Corps.

Cottrell trained in basic infantry and at radio school in San Diego. He departed for the Pacific in April, 1944 and on July 21 was in the communications detail in the first wave of the Marine assault on the island of Guam. After working for hours under fire to establish and maintain radio communications on the beachhead, Cottrell was struck and killed by mortar fire, one month shy of his twenty-first birthday. He was buried on the island the following day.

More information about other Dickinson war casualties can be found through the online project "In Remembrance" (see link for related entries below).