Anglo-Argentine volunteers

I am doing a research on Anglo-Argentine volunteers who were part of the RN during WW2.

I would like to know more about three RN commandos:

Albert Henry Venn (died on D-Day, I think he was part of a landind party, but I'm not sure if he was a commando).
John Godwin (captured on Norway, killed in a german prison camp).
Noel Cooper (disappeared off the coast of Sicily - COPP 3).

I would appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks a lot,

José Maffeo

Confirmed.
Lt Henry Albert Venn RNVR was a commando.
He received the DSC.

This message was edited 7 times. Last update was at 18/04/2023 00:11:00

In Memory of Lieutenant JOHN GODWIN H.M.S. Quebec., Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
who died age 25 on 02 February 1945
Son of Charles Algernon and Eva Mary Godwin, of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Remembered with honour PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL.

Hi Jose

If you look at the following forum message I created titled Sgt Victor John Cox of 12 Commando you will see information about Operation Checkmate. This was the operation led by Lieutenant John Godwin of the RNVR whom as you know was from Argentina. They were grouped together as 14 Commando. There is a lot of information in that forum message about the raid, Lt Godwin and the raiders themselves, pictures of them, details on how they were executed or died from mal treatment whilst prisoners of war, references to a most informative book about the raid which I recommend, and also a picture of the memorial at Sachsenhausen Concentraion Camp

https://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/832.page

There is also an entry in our WW2 Gallery on this link:
https://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/WW2/Operation+Checkmate/

Additionally you may want to contact the Royal Navy Submarine Museum regarding Lt Henry Albert Venn DSC RNVR. They have an exhibition on for D Day and there is information on their site regarding COPP actions on D Day. Here is the link to their site. On this page scroll down the D Day info to read about the COPP. They may also have information regarding Lt Noel Wilson Cooper RNVR whom as you know was reported missing in action after a COPP recce off Sicily.

http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/dday/dday.htm

A further line of research that may help for Lt. Cooper is on that of Captain George Burbidge, shown on the CWGC records as Royal Canadian Engineers, who was also reported missing in action after a recce near Sicily on the same day as Lt. Cooper. I am not certain on this but I believe he was COPP team 3 also.

I hope this is of some help to you

Regards

Pete

Thanks for the tips Pete.

I've found a lot of information about Godwin and Operation Checkmate.
There's also a book about him, "Godwin's saga".

I've also got information about Cooper, especially from the book "The Secret Invaders."
George Burbidge disappeared along with Cooper while searching for the commander of the COPP 3, who had disappeared five days earlier.

Venn is still a mystery. I couldn't find anything in the London Gazette about his DSC. I will try in the Royal Navy Submarine Musem.

Regards

José

Hello Jose,
In March 1944 Lt H.A. Venn was in ?F? Beach Commando.

?F? landed on Sword Beach on the 6th June.

I will have a look and see if I have any other information over the weekend.

Regards

Danny

Excellent information Danny.

Please, let me know if you find any additional information about Venn.

Regards

José

I have another name of an Anglo-Argentine volunteer.
His name was Cyril Guise Walmsley (Lt), he was a marine and was wounded on D-Day.
I'm trying to determine whether he was a commando or part of the crew of an LCI.

If someone has any information, please let me know.

Regards

José

Hello Jose,
A some more information on Lt. H. A. Venn.

He was commissioned on the 13th November 1942. He then went to HMS Foliot in December 1942 for ?F? Commando.

F Commando sailed for the Middle East in March 1943. They took part in the Sicily landings on the 9/10th July. They then returned to the UK by the 31st July 1943. They Joined Force ?S? around October 1943.

They landed with the initial assault troops on the 6th June 1944. The Commando was divided up amongst the infantry units with their heavier equipment coming ashore later from the LCT?s.

Casualties were one officer killed and three wounded.

Regards

Danny

Thanks a lot Danny.

I guess Venn was the only officer of the F Commando killed on D-Day.

Perhaps he earned his DSC during the Sicily landings.

Thanks again.

José

Jose - Lt Noel Wilson Cooper RNVR also features in Stealthily by Night (Crecy Books, 1995) by Ian Trenowden. He was SBS first, and marked beaches for the Torch landings before he disappeared with four other COPP officers off Sicily.

Thanks Nicholas, I'll try to find "Stealthy by Night", but here in Argentina it's very difficult to find good literature on such specific issues, so I usually nedd to rely on E-Bay or Amazon.

Hi Jose,
Try abebooks.co.uk for second hand books. I find them extremely good.
Several copies of Stealthily by Night are available.

Peter

http://www.d-falklands-b.org/TabarisHighlanders.html

TABARIS HIGHLANDERS (1939). The Tabaris Highlanders were a group of volunteers from the Anglo-Argentine community who arrived in Stanley shortly after the beginning of World War II intending to assist in the defence of the Falkland Islands in the event of an attack by the German Navy. They had responded to much worrying comment in the Argentine press at that time on the possibility of German warships blockading transit through the Cape Horn route to Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East. Most Highlanders were either ex-regular soldiers or OTC members (according to one version), or former and practising rugby players (according to another). From the Colonial Secretary's files in Stanley we know that when the group (33 in all) arrived in the Falklands on 27 September 1939, six were rejected on medical and other grounds and returned to Buenos Aires almost immediately. Unfortunately, the 'commanding officer' a Major Morrough was one of those rejected.

The remainder were enrolled in the FIDF, with Ronald Campbell made Sergeant as their group commander and Thomas Dawson Sanderson as Corporal. They left the Islands on 8 December 1939, once the immediate danger of attack from German raiders was judged to have receded. It was no slouch time for the Highlanders: they were digging gun pits, embankments, and protection of every sort from a possible German naval attack. While they were only in the Islands for just over two months, 22 of them applied from Stanley to join the British forces

Sanderson was President of the Argentine Rugby Club, and a general sportsman with a handicap of 2 in golf. He remembered a difficult moment receiving a formal invitation to go to a function at Government House where formal dress had been stipulated. He called the Governor and explained that regretfully the volunteers had not come the Islands to be entertained and so had not brought the appropriate dress for the occasion. The invitation was cancelled.

'Tabaris Highlanders' was surely an ironic name, derived from a Buenos Aires nightclub infamous in the 1920s and 30s for the amount of money spent there by estancieros and businessmen on girls, wine, and betting. It did not have a particularly savoury reputation and was not considered a respectable place for women. Although most of the 'Highlanders' were familiar with it, their wives were not.

Jeremy Howat

Hi All
I am an ex British Navy Diver involved with the Diving Museum in Gosport. I am researching the LCOCU frogmen who landed on D-Day to dispose of the obstacle's. (Landing Craft Obstacle Clearance Units).

Lt Albert Henry Venn I believe was one of them. I know there has been some research on him just hoping to find out more. He was mentioned in a sound recording in the War Museum in London that a fellow LCOCU frogmen made.
Many Thanks

Ginge
[email protected]