Philip Cockburn

by Dragonforce Fri 17 Apr 2020, 9:10 pm

'His legacy is Canada': London D-Day veteran Philip Cockburn dies at 97

London’s First Hussars are mourning the loss of the regiment’s last known Second World War veteran in the city, a tank gunner and “true Canadian hero” who fought in one of history’s greatest military operations.

JENNIFER BIEMAN - April 17, 2020

London’s First Hussars are mourning the loss of the regiment’s last known Second World War veteran in the city, a tank gunner and “true Canadian hero” who fought in one of history’s greatest military operations.

Philip Cockburn, who was aboard one of the regiment’s 61 tanks that went ashore on D-Day June 6, 1944, died Thursday. He was 97 years old.
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Philip Cockburn Lfp20190526dr025_71643640-e1587136417427

Cockburn was among the 14,000 Canadians who participated in the co-ordinated attack on Nazi-occupied France. Nearly 360 Canadians were killed in the monumental invasion that led to the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Cockburn left England with his family when he was seven years old and settled in Clandonald, Alta., about 75 kilometres northwest of Lloydminster.

He enlisted when he was 17 and was stationed in Nanaimo, B.C., and Welland before he shipped out for England, where he joined the First Hussars. His first day in battle was D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history.

In a 2019 interview with The Free Press marking the 75th anniversary of the history-making military operation, Cockburn recalled how it felt when his tank hit the water and headed to the Normandy shore.

“It was now real,” he said at the time. “I was scared as hell. Scared, very scared. . . . You don’t know if you’re really going to make it or not.”

In the months following D-Day, the Hussars made their way inland through France and into the Netherlands. The regiment went through 346 tanks by the end of the war. Cockburn was injured in his right leg when his tank came under fire but remained in service.

Cockburn was a “true Canadian hero” who was part of a defining moment in human history, said Joe Murray, president of the First Hussars Association. But he never let it go to his head.

“He was always a humble man. He loved to laugh. He loved his county. He loved his regiment and most of all he loved his family,” Murray said.

“That shone through every day. Everybody liked to be around him, because he was just Phil.”

Cockburn married his wife Mavis after the war and eventually settled in London. The couple had three sons and three daughters and were married for 61 years when Mavis died in 2007.

He worked as a welder for Union Gas and later as a head custodian for the Roman Catholic school board before retiring in 1987.

Cockburn was one of the last known surviving Second World War veterans from the First Hussars, Murray said. There are three others the association knows about: one in Sarnia, another in St. Catharines and one in New Brunswick.

Cockburn has left a lasting impression both on the people who knew him and the country he fought for long ago, Murray said.

“His legacy is the country that we live in today,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way to describe it. He gave us a great legacy and his legacy is called Canada.”

A memorial service for Cockburn will take place at a later date, Murray said.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/true-canadian-hero-philip-cockburn-londoner-who-survived-d-day-dies-at-97