101-Year-Old WW2 Veteran Knighted by the Queen
Mordaunt Cohen was born in Sunderland in 1916. He became a solicitor while still a teenager, and was content with practicing in his hometown until World War 2 broke out and Cohen met Jewish girls who were rescued by the Kindertransport. Learning of the atrocities unfolding throughout the continent, he enlisted in 1940.
He was a gunner for two years before being appointed an officer and sent to Nigeria. There, his soldiers were mainly Muslim. He told the Jewish press in Britain that he spoke to the men about Obah Ibrahim, or Father Abraham, and that they approvingly called him the “White Muslim.” He served in India, then Burma, before returning to Sunderland a decorated veteran and throwing himself into Conservative politics as well as into his synagogue. He also spent decades speaking about the war to school children and other interested groups, at one point making a video about his time fighting the Japanese that was viewed by 170,000 people. And for his efforts, Cohen, now 101, was knighted yesterday by Queen Elizabeth.
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