John Godwin

Temporary Lieutenant John Godwin, RNVR (13 December 1919 His party managed to sink a minesweeper and a number of steamers using limpet mines, but he was eventually captured with the rest of his party, a commando sergeant, two naval Petty Officers and three seamen. Initially, they were held in Grini concentration camp. This was the same camp where, in January 1943, the Germans executed five commando survivors of Operation Freshman. However, Godwin and his comrades were not executed at Grini, but instead sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where, contrary to the Geneva Convention, they were forced to march 30 miles a day on cobbles wearing in army boots.

On 2 February 1945, they were led to execution, in accordance with Hitler's Commando Order of 1942. Godwin managed to wrestle the pistol of the firing party commander from his belt and shoot him dead before being himself shot. No superior officer witnessed this act so a decoration could not be awarded. However, his bravery was mentioned in dispatches (posthumously). The citation, in The London Gazette, 9 October 1945, read: "For great gallantry and inspiring example whilst a prisoner of war in German hands in Norway and afterwards at Sachsenhausen, near Oranienburg, Germany, 1942–1945".