b. 21/05/1921 Latchford, Ontario, Canada. d. 26/02/1945 Mooshoof, Germany.
Aubrey Cosens (1921-1945) was born in Latchford, Ontario, on the 21st May 1921, the son of a First World War Veteran Charles E. Cosens and Yvonne Cosens. Shortly after his birth his family moved to Porquis Junction, near Iroquois Falls, Ontario and he was educated in the Porquis Junction School. He left school in 1938 to work with his father on the railway as a section hand.
Aubrey Cosens VC
He left Porquis Junction in 1939 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force but his application was rejected. Finally, in 1940, he went to Hamilton, Ontario, and was accepted by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Hamilton) Regiment. He served with them in Canada, Jamaica and England; then transferred to the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada in the summer of 1944 and was soon promoted from Corporal to Sergeant.
In Holland on the night of 25th-26th February 1945, the 1st Battalion, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada launched an attack on the hamlet of Mooshof, to capture ground which was considered essential for the development of future operations.
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens platoon, with two tanks in support, attacked enemy strong points in three farm buildings, but were twice beaten back by fanatical enemy resistance and then fiercely counter-attacked, during which time the platoon suffered heavy casualties and the platoon commander was killed. Sergeant Cosens at once assumed command of the only other four survivors of his platoon, whom he placed in a position to give him covering fire, while he himself ran across open ground under heavy mortar and shell fire to the one remaining tank, where, regardless of the danger, he took up an exposed place in front of the turret and directed his fire.
After a further enemy counter-attack had been repulsed, Sergeant Cosens ordered the tank to attack the farm buildings, while the four survivors of his platoon followed in close support. After the tank had rammed the first building he entered it alone, killing several of the defenders and taking the rest prisoner. Single-handed he then entered the second and third buildings, and personally killed or captured all the occupants, although under intense machine-gun and small arms fire. Just after the successful reduction of these important enemy strong points, Sergeant Cosens was shot through the head by an enemy sniper and died almost instantly.
Cosens was buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Holland. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on 22nd May 1945, and his medal group was later donated to the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Museum, Toronto. In 1986, the road bridge in Latchford, Ontario carrying the Ontario Highway 11, was renamed the Sgt Aubrey Cosens VC Memorial Bridge.
LOCATION OF MEDAL:QUEENS OWN RIFLES OF CANADA MUSEUM, TORONTO.
BURIAL PLACE: GROESBEEK CANADIAN CEMETERY, HOLLAND.
PLOT VIII, ROW H, GRAVE 2
Acknowledgement:
Kevin Brazier – Cemetery Map.