Rushden Naval Hero - “Man Who Saved Valetta” Awarded George Cross

Dennis Copperwheat

News of the magnificent deed for which Lieut. Copperwheat had been awarded the George Cross was broadcast at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, and several listeners at Rushden and Raunds realised that a local man was the hero of the story.

The official record is that Lieut. Copperwheat, of H.M.S. Penelope, has been awarded the George Cross for great bravery at Malta.

Risked His Life

During heavy air attacks on Valetta, Lieut. Copperwheat was sent in charge of a party of men from H.M.S. Penelope to scuttle a merchantman, laden with ammunition, which was burning in the harbour. Owing to the fires, it was impossible to place scuttling charges in the holds, and they had to be slung over the side of the ship.

As they worked, ammunition was exploding all round them from burning stowages on deck. The ship lay 40 yards from the shore, to which the electric cables for firing the scuttling charges could only just reach.

Lieut. Copperwheat sent his working party to shelter, and stayed himself to fire the charges from a position where he was exposed to the full blast of the explosion, which lifted him, bodily.

But for his brave action the ship must have blown up, and grave damage would have been done to the harbour. Moreover much of the ammunition was saved and some very heavy bombs, part of the cargo, were soon afterwards dropped in Italy.

Proud Young Wife

Lieut. Copperwheat’s home is at 46, Park-avenue, Rushden, where a representative of this Journal was among the first to congratulate his charming wife on Tuesday evening.

When Mrs. Olive Copperwheat opened the door her obvious excitement showed that she had heard the news already. She was in the sitting room with her father, Mr. G. H. Cowley, of Orchard-place, Rushden, her baby daughter Jane (who will be three next month), and a friend, when a knock was heard on the dividing wall – a signal from the neighbour, Mrs. A. Greasley.

“I was just putting the kiddie to bed,” said Mrs. Copperwheat. “I ran round to the house next door and Mrs. Greasley said it had just been given out on the 9 o’clock news. I told my little girl, and she wanted to know if ‘George Cross’ had a new hat.”

Discussing her husband’s great deed, Mrs. Copperwheat declared: “He wouldn’t worry himself – not one atom! I have never known anyone cooler.”

Raunds Parents

Lieut. Copperwheat is 28 and was born at Raunds, being the second child of the late Mr. Arthur Copperwheat, a boot operative, and of Mrs. Copperwheat, who still resides at 10, Midland-road, Raunds. After attending Kimbolton School he joined the Navy at the age of 15, and in April, 1931, when at St. Vincent, he won the Royal Society of St. George’s prize “for boy best at work throughout the term.” Working his way from the lower deck by ability, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in October, 1939.

During the war his only ships have been H.M.S. Hero and H.M.S. Penelope.

He married Miss Cowley (whose father and mother are both alive) at Rushden in 1935, and they made their home at Southsea – where Jane, their only child, was born – until last year. “I came back to Rushden,” said Mrs. Copperwheat, “when Adolf took too much of a fancy to us.”

Mrs. Copperwheat, who is of slim build and vivacious in conversation, declared that her husband never spoke of his naval adventures.

“If he was not in uniform,” she said, “I should not know he was in the Navy. He was at home last Saturday and had just had a longer leave, but until a month ago I had not seen him for 17 months.

“I had no inkling of this from him, and the only hint I had was in a letter from his captain, who told me that he was being mentioned in dispatches.”

Mrs. Copperwheat is doing war work on the staff of the National Provincial Bank at Rushden – and she went to the office as usual on Wednesday morning. Before marriage she worked at Rushden for Messrs. William Green and Son, boot manufacturers.

Lieut. Copperwheat has an elder sister and a younger brother, Norman, who is serving with the Northamptonshire Regiment in Ireland.

Proud School

“We feel very proud of the boy, and have sent him a cable from the school to-day,” said Mr. W. Ingram, headmaster at Kimbolton, to our representative on Wednesday.

“He is the second George Cross we have had: the other was Raymond Lewin, of Kettering, who got the G.C. for superb gallantry. Dennis always displayed a great interest in aeroplanes while he was at school. He was a good boy – a good sportsman.”

Mr. Ingram said that no special announcement of the award had been made at the school “because we are saving all these things until the end of the war, when we have a grand old boys’ reunion already planned. In the ordinary way we would have had a half-holiday at least.

Rushden Hero of Malta - George Cross Winner - Decorated By King

Lieut. Copperwheat, whose home is at 46, Park-avenue, Rushden, was first on the list of heroes at the recent investiture by the King at Buckingham Palace. He serves on H.M.S. Penelope, the cruiser which was christened “Pepperpot” after she had been riddled with enemy shells in Malta Harbour. It has now been established that he is the first regular officer of the Royal Navy to receive the G.C. award.

At The Palace

On his visit to Buckingham Palace the young lieutenant was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Olive Copperwheat, who works at the National Provincial Bank, Rushden, and their precocious daughter Jane, aged not quite three. Mrs. Copperwheat saw the King shake hands with her husband and speak words of congratulation, but when she asked Lieut. Copperwheat to tell her what His Majesty said he gave a light-hearted answer which obviously evaded the point. “He’s as close as an oyster,” she declared with a smile.

Home on a short leave during the week-end, Lieut. Copperwheat delighted his old schools at Raunds and Kimbolton by complying with their pressing invitations to “look in.”

At Raunds on Monday morning the headmistress (Miss F. E. Hall) called for three cheers, which were heartily given. She told Lieut. Copperwheat that the school flag had been flying in his honour, and that the school wished him good luck in the future.

Lieut. Copperwheat laughingly remarked that he was more frightened addressing them than doing what he did last March. However, he was told that some of the boys wanted to be in the Navy, and he would tell them they would have to work hard. He read to them a cable of congratulation on his award which he had received that morning from two friends in charge of a torpedo station in Malta, and he said they also deserved some recognition for what they did.

Kimbolton Visit

According to the headmaster, however, the boys “accepted this expression of sportsmanship and modesty with due reserve.”

Lieut. Copperwheat was accompanied by his wife and little daughter. Before leaving he expressed the hope that he would be present at the grand reunion of Old Kimboltonians which is being organised for the end of the war.

The heroic action of Lieut. Copperwheat was portrayed in “Marching On” on the Home and Forces radio programme on November 19th.