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June 6:
Also the day in 1922 that Johnny Cooper was born.
Johnny (pic) served in the SAS from 1941 to 1959 with a brief intermission working in the wool trade.
But knitted cardigans weren’t really his thing.
So he re-enlisted & added Malaya & Oman to his WW2 battle honours.
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A sign that someone has reached legend status is when they’re immortalised in song. That was the case with Johnny – who cropped up in an A Squadron favourite - ‘Old Uncle Bill Fraser & all’, lustily sung in spring 1944 while the Regiment trained at Darvel in Scotland.
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“I’ll tell you all of a horrible dream
All along down along out along Darvel
The whole of ‘A’ Squadron went out on a scheme
With Reg Seekings, Johnny Wiseman, Pat Riley, Alex Muirhead, Johnny Cooper, Puddle Poole, old Uncle Bill Fraser and all,
Old Uncle Bill Fraser and all.”
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Incidentally, Puddle Poole was Lt Norman ‘Puddle’ Poole (pic). He had the honour of leading the first British SAS mission into Occupied France – ‘Titanic’. Six very brave men who parachuted into Normandy - Le Mesnil-Vigot, 20 miles south of Utah beach - at 0040 on June 6 1944.
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Around the same time in Brittany, near the hamlet of Halliguen, a French SAS stick landed (Operation Dingson). They had been seen by the Germans & in the subsequent firefight corporal Émile Bouétard (pic) was killed – the first SAS fatality of operations in France in 1944.
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In September 1943 Bouétard (pic, 5th from right, back-row) had been a member of the French SAS team that beat the US airborne record for the fastest stick exit from a Douglas Dakota – 20 men in 7 ½ seconds.
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Back to Johnny Cooper. His turn to parachute into Occupied France came on June 10, as part of A Squadron’s Operation Houndsworth. The op contained several ‘Originals’, including Bill Fraser, Chalky White, Reg Seekings, ‘Maggie’ McGinn & Jeff Du Vivier.
Pic: JC (cen) & Jeff rt
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Everyone I spoke to who knew Johnny in the war – 1SAS, French SAS & several Maquis who worked with A Sqn in 1944 – remembered him with respect, affection & awe.
In 2001 Johnny suggested I write a book about the wartime SAS, through the eyes of the men. He supplied a reference
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I took it to the SAS Regt Association & thanks to Johnny's reference I ended up interviewing 75 plus wartime veterans.
Thank you Johnny, the youngest of the SAS Originals of 1941, and happy birthday.
Johnny Cooper, DCM, 1922 - 2002
pic: Johnny (right) salutes the boss, 1997
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