Uni honour for Mordaunt, 101
RECOGNITION FOR SECOND WORLD WAR VETERAN FROM SUNDERLAND
first honorary award recipient back in 1992.
Born in Sunderland in 1916, he served in Burma, where he commanded Nigerian volunteers as part of an anti-aircraft unit defending RAF air strips and, during his service, survived being
After the war, Lt Col Cohen served on the local education board in the 1960s and in 1974 he and his wife made history, when they became the first husband and wife to serve on the judiciary.
He was also appointed the University’s first Chairman of Governors.
Lt Col Cohen said: “When my eldest grandson told me that I would receive this honour I really was silenced and I didn’t really know why I was deserving of this distinct honour.
“And then on reflection I decided that it must be because I am the grandfather of the university!”
Lt Col Cohen joined the army after hearing stories of Nazi persecution from Jewish children who arrived in Sunderland from the Kindertransport and settled in a local girls’ hostel.
A former national chairman of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, he was mentioned in Dispatches for services in Burma when he arrived home after the war.
He joined a reformed Territorial Army back home after the conflict and was promoted to major within two years before being made a lieutenant colonel in 1954.
Today, he says nothing is more important to him “than seeing the community recognise VJ day”.