Dr Cooper graduated from Medical School at the University of Durham in 1937 aged 23. His first job was a medical attendant at a coal mine in County Durham where he had experience of attending to miners underground. He also joined the RNVR prior to the outbreak of WW2. He was called into service when the war started and had his first experience of war as a medical officer onboard HMS Versatile when it was bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940. HMS Versatile was escorting HMS Hereward which was carrying the evacuated Queen Wilhelmina from Holland on May 13th 1940. That evening, at 8.45pm, HMS Versatile was attacked by enemy aircraft. A bomb hit the upper deck over the engine room, causing minor structural damage and flooding to the engine room. Splinters from this bomb and other near misses caused damage from ‘A’ gun to quarterdeck and the auxiliary machinery suffered minor damage. The steam pipe was damaged to the extent that it was unable to steam and the ship was immobilised. Nine seamen were killed, with one dying later of his wounds. Thirteen wounded men were transferred to HMS Janus but the total wounded in the attack amounted to a third of the crew. HMS Janus towed HMS Versatile to Sheerness on May 14th where she underwent repairs over the following few weeks. Dr Cooper remembered tending to the wounded on that fateful night.

During a period of shore leave Dr Cooper was called to meet Surgeon Commander George Murray Levick RN who had served as medical officer on the Northern Party of Scott's last Antarctic expedition. Dr Cooper had no recollection of how he came to be chosen, he had never met Murray Levick before. Murray Levick had been called out of retirement at the age of 64 to provide training and survival expertise for Operation Tracer. At the meeting Murray Levick explained he was looking for “a doctor to do something special”. Murray Levick also said “I cannot tell you what it's all about yet but you will need an accomplice.” Dr Cooper explained to Levick that he had a friend, Arthur Milner, who was still a civilian, but also a Doctor of medicine. Dr Cooper suggested to Levick that he ask Arthur Milner and gave him Dr Milner’s telephone number at Lancaster Infirmary. Dr Cooper had spoken to his friend Arthur Milner and Arthur had replied that he was not interested because he suffered badly from seasickness and would join the army if he joined anything. Dr Cooper told Murray Levick this and Levick’s response was “If I can guarantee that throughout his military service he will not be required to go to sea, will he come?”. Arthur Milner eventually said yes, and found himself joining the Navy.

Murray Levick told them that they were to be hidden away and that they might have to stay there for as long as a year but he did not disclose the location. With their great taste for adventure they both agreed and Levick gave them the details of the operation. Levick explained that the plan involved one executive officer, two medical officers and three ratings as radio operators to send messages. Dr Cooper and Dr. Milner were both quite excited about the prospect. The executive officer was a gentleman by the name of “Windy” Gale, originally from Kent. Dr Cooper explained that previously another man had been appointed as the executive but he objected to having his meals alongside the ratings, so Levick “sacked him”! Eventually they would be taken out to Gibraltar and given cover jobs. Dr Cooper was appointed as Dockyard Medical Officer and Arthur Milner was given the job of Assistant Doctor at HMS Cormorant. Dr Cooper remembered a story in which Arthur's boss, Turnbull, took a dislike to Arthur and did his best to get rid of him. A ship came in to Gibraltar for a refit, and the ship's doctor was sent off sick. So Turnbull assigned Arthur to go out with the ship. The man in charge of Operation Tracer put a stop to this. Turnbull tried again and was himself shipped out of Gibraltar.

Dr Cooper met the three ratings when they had a trial run watching shipping on the Thames estuary. This was to practice the routine of reporting and to get themselves accustomed to living under such conditions but the trial surprisingly only lasted one week. Dr Cooper did not remember an Operation Manual which some historians believe existed.

Shortly after arriving in Gibraltar he was taken to the secret OP (Observation Post) with the other two officers. The ratings were not with them. Dr Cooper remembered that on the way from the Naval Dockyard, he changed into the uniform of an army sergeant. He did this in the Rock Hotel, where he was staying at the time. It amused him to think that he was technically a spy when wearing a uniform that he was not entitled to.

They travelled up on the outside of the Rock in daylight and arrived at a small entrance where they had to bow their heads to get in. Inside was a relatively small room with a small slit in one wall from which he remembers looking down over the town and across towards to the Detached Mole. On the opposite side of the room there was quite a reasonable size opening overlooking the Mediterranean with a sheer drop beneath. He is certain that there was no ledge that he could have crawled out onto. It was definitely a sheer drop. They would have a cable that they could lower down the sheer side to act as an aerial to be used for sending the radio messages. Dr Cooper was quite sure the room had no other tunnels or passages attached to it. He also felt sure that the location of the OP was not below or close to a gun battery. He insisted that the OP was right at the top of the Rock.

Dr Coopers description of the OP differs considerably from the facility discovered in 1997 and it does seem to suggest that rumours of a second facility are indeed well-founded. However, he did say his memory of the room was "considerably faded". It is plausible that two operations would run simultaneously and in the event of one being discovered by the Germans, the remaining OP could continue undetected. It would be necessary for each team to have absolutely no knowledge of the other. Other rumours suggest that one operation was called Tracer (which is confirmed by Dr Cooper) and the other was called Monkey, which may have been a two man operation. Dr Cooper declared he had no knowledge of Monkey or any parallel operation.

When Dr Cooper was shown photographs and diagrams of the secret OP found in 1997, he felt very strongly that it was not what he experienced in 1942. Further questioning with the aid of aereal photographs and views of Gibraltar only reinforced his opinion that he was not involved with anything in the area of Lord Airey's Battery which was the location of the 1997 discovery.

Dr Cooper had faded memories of a pedal bicycle on a concrete platform in the middle of the room. He recalls getting onto a bicycle and pedalling very hard to generate energy for charging batteries and to power everything else. Only the ratings would use the radio. However, he felt that officers would have taken turns in the observation aspect of the operation. He was aware that there was a very large water tank but could not recall its location or how they were to access it. He was also unsure of the precise details of the toilet facilities. Murray Levick had taken care of the type and quantity of provisions which were always kept in a state of readiness. For two and a half years they lived with the prospect that at any time they could be sent up and sealed into the OP. Dr Cooper was aware that the length of time which they could have been sealed up could have been longer than one year. Even as long as ten years was mentioned, but he felt that this was very unlikely and chose to ignore this possibility.

Dr Cooper confirmed that, contrary to rumours, they were not required to have their tonsils and appendices removed in advance. He explained that both Arthur Milner and himself were perfectly capable of carrying out these procedures if necessary. Should any of the six men die they were to be embalmed and buried or bricked up. He agreed that looking back on it now, it would probably been a pretty terrible experience had the Operation gone ahead but at the time he was not concerned. He felt very excited about it.

During off-duty hours they were given passes to go into Spain, they frequented La Linea and San Roque, and sometimes sat at the same tables as Germans. Dr Cooper remembered the Italian ship Altera in Algeciras. He remembered meeting the famous Buster Crab as well as his colleague Ted Halbrook.

When he first arrived in Gibraltar he lived at the Rock Hotel and then he moved into a flat which he shared with the Chief of Police, Ernest Smith. When the operation was eventually called off Dr Cooper returned to the OP to “snatch some goodies”. His flatmate Ernest Smith could not understand where all the biscuits were coming from as he was completely unaware of the operation.

When the members of Operation Tracer were eventually stood down, he was shipped back to England shortly after and resumed normal life. He never heard anything about the OP or the operation ever again.

He left the Navy in 1946 and worked for a while as a house doctor and in 1947 set up his own practice as a GP at his home in England. He had occasionally taken time off from his practice to go to sea on SS Uganda during its educational crusises for school children. He took on the role of "Baby Doc". The Uganda used to carry two doctors, one, the "Baby Doc" was on a two week basis and was filled by doctors looking for a fortnight's holiday. They looked after the scoolchildren and were not paid. There was a waiting list for these vacancies which were very popular in the medical profession for free holidays.

There was also the role of "Papa Doc", a paid crew member looking after the crew and passengers other than the schoolchildren. (The names came from the father and son dictators of Haiti at the time, Papa Doc Duvalier and his son.) "Papa Docs" were on a two month rotation between two doctors, i.e. two months on and two months off.

After retirement aged 62, Dr Cooper took on the role of "Papa Doc" after several years of occasional trips as "Baby Doc". He had just relieved the other doctor one week earlier when the Uganda was requisitioned for the Falklands, so was already on board. He was asked if he wished to stay for the trip to the Falklands and jumped at the chance.

They were in Alexandria when the news broke. They then sailed to Naples where they dropped off the schoolchildren and between Naples and Gibraltar they prepared the ship for conversion. The refit to a hospital ship took place in Gibraltar. Dr Cooper then travelled with the ship to the war zone in the Falklands and remained with the ship for several journeys bringing troops back to England.

Dr Cooper and Dr Milner remained good friends until Arthur passed away. He corresponded with “Windy” Gale by post and they exchanged Christmas cards for many years. Eventually the Christmas cards stopped coming and Dr Cooper assumed the worst.

On occasions when the Uganda stopped in Gibraltar, he did not feel the need to seek out his secret OP. He felt very strongly that the operation and its facilities were still very much a secret which he was honour bound to maintain. He was totally appalled when in 1966 someone leaked information to the London press. However he now feels that it is appropriate to provide an account of this important part of Gibraltar's WW2 history.