Ted Coppin
Ted Coppin MBE CdG (20 May 1915 – 23 April 1943) was a British agent of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
Biography[edit]
Edward Cyril Coppin was born in Essex on 20 May 1915.
He joined the Special Operations Executive,[1] Section F, with the rank of Lieutenant.[citation needed]
On 11/12 June 1942 he landed by boat in France[2] to join the DONKEYMAN network of Henri Frager in Marseille. He trained a sabotage group comprising a small but efficient team of railway workers, ensuring a satisfactory increase in the rate of accidents in marshalling yards and making good use of abrasive grease to cause damage.[3]
Ten months after his arrival, he was arrested on 23 April 1943, with his courier "Gisele", and executed in captivity on 27 September 1943, aged 28.[4]
Recognition[edit]
Awards[edit]
- United Kingdom: MBE, Mentioned in Despatches.
- France: Croix de Guerre with a vermeil star.
Monuments[edit]
- He is honoured at The Valençay SOE Memorial, Indre, as one of the 104 agents of section F who lost their lives for France’s liberation.
- Brookwood Memorial, Surrey.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^ The National Archives : HS 9/350/9 - Ted Cyril COPPIN
- ^ Secret Flotillas: the Clandestine Sea Lines to France and French North Africa, Brooks Richards, HMSO, 1996.
- ^ SOE in France an account of the work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940–1944, MRD Foot, HMSO, London, 1966.
- ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission
