Leading Airman D. A. Cooper
Royal Navy
FAA/FX 77302
Lost at sea, 17 January 1941, North Atlantic. Aged 19.
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Denys Cooper was born in 1922, the son of Cyril and Elizabeth Cooper (nee Mills) of Woking, Surrey. He left the County School in 1939 and was awarded football colours.
On 17 January 1941 he was aboard the 15,000 ton Almeda Star. She was a passenger steamship, the first to run the route to South America. When war broke out she was converted to an armed vessel to run the same route under Captain Henry Howard.
Almeda Star
On the morning of 17 January 1941 she was running in heavy seas without escort 25 miles off Rockall in the north Atlantic en route to the River Plate when she was spotted by U-96 commanded by Captain Lehmann-Willenbrock. The U-boat made three attacks on the steamship all of which were avoided by Captain Howard and his crew.
On the fourth attack she was hit by a torpedo and broadcast a distress message giving her position. She was hit by a further two torpedoes after which the U boat surfaced and fired its deck gun at the burning ship. A final torpedo hit her causing her to sink in three short minutes.
Several ships came to her rescue only to find an empty sea. No trace was ever found of the ship or its 136 crew, 29 gunners and 194 passengers.
Denys Cooper’s body was never recovered. He is remembered on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial, Hampshire and on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
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Last updated 7 July 2009
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking County School Magazine
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