Sydney Cohen was a service casualty of WW2

Pictures by kind permission of Gaby Laws (GenPals)

Sydney was born in Clapton London, the son of Joseph and Yetta Cohen (nee Cohen), He had one older sister Lillie, born in 1917. The family lived in Mount Pleasant Lane Hackney for a number of years.

He served his country in WW2 as Flt Sgt, then Warrant Officer 1383528 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Sydney found himself in an extraordinary position where although he did not know it at the time, he precipitated a change in the course of WW2. On the 12th June 1943, Sydney and his crew Sgt Les Wright and Sgt Peter Tait were on a mission from their RAF Hal Far base in Malta to see if there were any survivors from an enemy aircraft that had crashed into the sea. According to Les Wright they located a Luftwaffe pilot, dropped him emergency packs before heading back towards Malta, but a combination of low fuel, poor visibility and a compass that had in Sydney's words "a fit of the gremlins" landed on a bombed out airfield at Lampedusa, a small island about 200 km south of Sicily where a garrison of 4300 Italian troops were based.

Unsure of where they had actually landed, the crew knew it must be in enemy territory as there were burnt out aircraft everywhere and again Sydney is reported to have told the Reuters correspondent later that "I knew I was in a bit of a fix"

The crew were preparing themselves to surrender when they were approached by Italian officers waiving white sheets and making it clear that they wished to surrender to Sydney and his crew. Sydney demanded to see the garrison's commanding officer and whilst they were in his office there began an air raid by a dozen American Lightning Jets which proceeded to clear the room leaving Sydney and the crew wondering what was going to happen to them.

Sydney again demanded, and got, the island's surrender written on a piece of paper signed by the garrisons commandant and proceeded to refuel his Swordfish bi-plane and took off and had just enough fuel to reach an American base in Tunis where he reported what had happened to the incredulous staff there who immediately nicknamed Sydney "The King Of Lampedusa" something that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

The small islands occupied by the Italians were proving a problem for the Allies in their attempts to occupy Sicily. This occasioned Operation Corkscrew and when Sydney had let the Allied forces know about the wish of the Italians to surrender en masse, Naval vessels were dispatched to Lampedusa and Lieutenant Corbett accepted the official surrender of the island's military the following day.

The news spread worldwide with reports in the press as far away as Australia, New Zealand as well as the USA and South Africa. As Sydney was a Londoner, it was a case of local boy makes good. News of the war up to that point had not been good and Sydney and his crew would make a marked difference to the public perception of how the war was panning out. As is often the case, one thing led to another and the tide of the war changed.

Florida's St. Petersburg Times reported that Sydney seemed "a little bewildered by it all" and that is hardly surprising.
His fame spread, especially in London's East End. Writer S.J.Charendorf took the basic facts about this extraordinary incident and turned it into a play in Yiddish entitled "The King of Lampedusa" which ran for over 200 consecutive performances in London at the New Yiddish Theatre and then at the Grand Palais starring famous Yiddish actor Meier Tzelniker.

The BBC broadcast the play and it was also performed in other countries around the world. Sydney was reported to have seen a production of the play in Haifa where he was stationed in 1944.

Sydney was due to be demobilised in 1946 and on his last flight home from Marseilles, his aircraft was lost over the English Channel and neither Sydney's body or the wreckage of his aircraft were ever recovered. At the time of his passing, Sydney was 26 years of age. According to the military authorities, his last known address was 42 Mildenhall Road Clapton.

He is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, an RAF memorial for those RAF casualties who have no known grave

Very little is known about Sydney's family. His sister Lillie was reported to have said that Sydney joined the RAF to avenge the enemy bombing raids on London which damaged the flat he lived in and she is known to have married Sydney Collins in London in 1940 and subsequently lived in Montrose Place, Strathblane Glasgow.

There have been several attempts to resurrect the play, especially in the United States where interest in Sydney and his exploits are well renowned. As the London play was written to give Sydney's story a happy ending, it would seem that truth is stranger than fiction and perhaps sadly Sydney will only be remembered as "The King Of Lampedusa" rather than a brave serviceman who lost his life serving his country in WW2.

Sydney Cohen was a service casualty of WW2

Pictures by kind permission of Gaby Laws (GenPals)

Sydney was born in Clapton London, the son of Joseph and Yetta Cohen (nee Cohen), He had one older sister Lillie, born in 1917. The family lived in Mount Pleasant Lane Hackney for a number of years.

He served his country in WW2 as Flt Sgt, then Warrant Officer 1383528 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Sydney found himself in an extraordinary position where although he did not know it at the time, he precipitated a change in the course of WW2. On the 12th June 1943, Sydney and his crew Sgt Les Wright and Sgt Peter Tait were on a mission from their RAF Hal Far base in Malta to see if there were any survivors from an enemy aircraft that had crashed into the sea. According to Les Wright they located a Luftwaffe pilot, dropped him emergency packs before heading back towards Malta, but a combination of low fuel, poor visibility and a compass that had in Sydney's words "a fit of the gremlins" landed on a bombed out airfield at Lampedusa, a small island about 200 km south of Sicily where a garrison of 4300 Italian troops were based.

Unsure of where they had actually landed, the crew knew it must be in enemy territory as there were burnt out aircraft everywhere and again Sydney is reported to have told the Reuters correspondent later that "I knew I was in a bit of a fix"

The crew were preparing themselves to surrender when they were approached by Italian officers waiving white sheets and making it clear that they wished to surrender to Sydney and his crew. Sydney demanded to see the garrison's commanding officer and whilst they were in his office there began an air raid by a dozen American Lightning Jets which proceeded to clear the room leaving Sydney and the crew wondering what was going to happen to them.

Sydney again demanded, and got, the island's surrender written on a piece of paper signed by the garrisons commandant and proceeded to refuel his Swordfish bi-plane and took off and had just enough fuel to reach an American base in Tunis where he reported what had happened to the incredulous staff there who immediately nicknamed Sydney "The King Of Lampedusa" something that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

The small islands occupied by the Italians were proving a problem for the Allies in their attempts to occupy Sicily. This occasioned Operation Corkscrew and when Sydney had let the Allied forces know about the wish of the Italians to surrender en masse, Naval vessels were dispatched to Lampedusa and Lieutenant Corbett accepted the official surrender of the island's military the following day.

The news spread worldwide with reports in the press as far away as Australia, New Zealand as well as the USA and South Africa. As Sydney was a Londoner, it was a case of local boy makes good. News of the war up to that point had not been good and Sydney and his crew would make a marked difference to the public perception of how the war was panning out. As is often the case, one thing led to another and the tide of the war changed.

Florida's St. Petersburg Times reported that Sydney seemed "a little bewildered by it all" and that is hardly surprising.
His fame spread, especially in London's East End. Writer S.J.Charendorf took the basic facts about this extraordinary incident and turned it into a play in Yiddish entitled "The King of Lampedusa" which ran for over 200 consecutive performances in London at the New Yiddish Theatre and then at the Grand Palais starring famous Yiddish actor Meier Tzelniker.

The BBC broadcast the play and it was also performed in other countries around the world. Sydney was reported to have seen a production of the play in Haifa where he was stationed in 1944.

Sydney was due to be demobilised in 1946 and on his last flight home from Marseilles, his aircraft was lost over the English Channel and neither Sydney's body or the wreckage of his aircraft were ever recovered. At the time of his passing, Sydney was 26 years of age. According to the military authorities, his last known address was 42 Mildenhall Road Clapton.

He is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, an RAF memorial for those RAF casualties who have no known grave

Very little is known about Sydney's family. His sister Lillie was reported to have said that Sydney joined the RAF to avenge the enemy bombing raids on London which damaged the flat he lived in and she is known to have married Sydney Collins in London in 1940 and subsequently lived in Montrose Place, Strathblane Glasgow.

There have been several attempts to resurrect the play, especially in the United States where interest in Sydney and his exploits are well renowned. As the London play was written to give Sydney's story a happy ending, it would seem that truth is stranger than fiction and perhaps sadly Sydney will only be remembered as "The King Of Lampedusa" rather than a brave serviceman who lost his life serving his country in WW2.