Derek Cooper facts for kids

Major George Derek Cooper OBE MC (born May 28, 1912 – died May 19, 2007) was a brave British Army officer. He spent much of his life helping refugees and supporting the Palestinian people. He received special awards for his service, including the OBE and the MC.

Major Derek Cooper: A Life of Service

Early Life and First Steps

George Derek Cooper was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1912. He was one of four children. His family was quite well-off. His father's family were printers, and his mother's family owned a large bus company. Sadly, his father was killed in India in 1915 while serving in the army.

Derek went to school at Kent House School and then Eastbourne College. After his father died, his mother married another army officer. The family then moved to his new stepfather's estate in County Londonderry, Ireland.

Derek wanted to join the Royal Navy, but he couldn't because of his eyesight. Instead, in 1930, he started training to be a civil engineer. He worked in Greenwich for a company that built things. In 1932, he was sent to Palestine (which is now Israel and Palestine). There, he helped build a new harbour in Haifa. He also worked as a special police officer there. When the project finished in 1934, he returned to Ireland. His stepfather had passed away, so Derek took over running the family estate.

In 1937, Derek married Pamela Armstrong-Lushington-Tulloch. They had a daughter, Jennifer-June, born in 1939, and a son, Michael, born in 1944.

Joining the Army

In October 1936, Cooper joined the Irish Guards as a reservist. When World War II began on September 2, 1939, he was called to active duty. He helped build defenses in Britain to prepare for a possible invasion by Nazi Germany in 1940.

He volunteered to join the Second Household Cavalry Regiment. On July 13, 1944, he landed in Normandy, France. He served in France and Belgium, and fought in the battle for the Nijmegen bridge, which was on the way to Arnhem. He stayed in Europe until 1946. After that, he was sent to Egypt with the Life Guards.

In 1947, he was transferred to Palestine. He received the Military Cross award in 1948. This was for his bravery in protecting the Arab people in Jaffa. This happened when forces from the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) were advancing, shortly after the Deir Yassin massacre. Most of the Arab people in Jaffa left with the British forces when they pulled out on May 10, 1948. After this, Cooper returned with his regiment to Germany, where he served as second-in-command.

In 1949, he met Pamela, Viscountess Ruthven of Canberra. She was the widow of Major Patrick Hore-Ruthven. They fell in love. Cooper's first marriage ended in 1951, and he left the army. He and Pamela married on July 30, 1952. He gained two stepsons, Grey and Malise.

Helping People Around the World

The Coopers and their family moved to Dunlewey in County Donegal, Ireland. They lived there until 1974. They loved the Irish countryside. Later, they had a house in London, but then moved to Tisbury in Wiltshire, England.

Derek and Pamela Cooper began helping people in need. In 1956, they joined a Save the Children Fund team in Austria. They helped refugees who had escaped from Hungary during the Hungarian revolution.

In 1960-1961, they spent over a year in northern Jordan. They helped Palestinian refugees living in camps near Irbid. For his important work, King Hussein of Jordan gave Cooper the Istiqlal Medal.

In 1962, the Coopers joined another Save the Children relief effort. This was after a big earthquake in Iran on September 1. This earthquake killed about 12,000 people and left 22,000 without homes.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Cooper helped organize aid for Palestinian refugees in Amman, Jordan. He worked for the British Aid to Jordan Fund. In the 1970s and 1980s, they often traveled to the Middle East to work in Palestinian refugee camps. He received the OBE in 1969 for his work in the occupied territories.

From 1973 to 1975, they studied the living conditions of Palestinian refugees for Oxfam. They also did similar work for the International Committee for Palestine Human Rights from 1975 to 1976. In the summer of 1982, the Coopers worked for Oxfam in Beirut, Lebanon. This was while the city was surrounded by Israeli troops. In 1984, they started their own charity called Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Later Years and Legacy

In 1997, Cooper published his diary from World War II. It was called Dangerous Liaison. A book about his life, For Love of Justice: the life of a quixotic soldier by John Baynes, was also published that same year.

His second wife, Pamela, passed away in Amesbury, Wiltshire, on July 13, 2006. Major Cooper died in the same place less than a year later, just before his 95th birthday. He was survived by his son, daughter, and two stepsons.