No.3 Squadron Christmas Card, 1938.
A beautiful pastoral 1938 Christmas card from D. V. Couta of No. 3 Fighter Squadron, from the collection of Gerry Burke.
“D. V. Couta” is a fairly unusual name, and all the information available suggests that the person who this Christmas card belonged to was Denis Victor Couta, who entered this world in Peckham, London, on 25th July, 1899. His Father, Alfred, was a Stock Exchange clerk from Kent and his Mother, Alice Sarah Childs, was born in Newington, London. He had a sister a couple of years older than him, called Winifred.
Denis was working as a Grocer’s assistant when he entered the Royal Navy and was sent to HMS Ganges as a Boy Seaman Second Class in August 1915, with the service number J43098. His service file records that he was just over 5′ tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. He had only just turned 16 so his parents would have signed the declaration for his 12 year period of engagement.
Between June 1916 and August 1919, he served aboard the Edgar-class cruiser, HMS Theseus, as a Signalman. Denis spent 1920 aboard the battleship, HMS Barham, probably patrolling the North Sea. The last entry in Couta’s Naval service record is with HMS Excellent, most likely the shore establishment at Portsmouth, in the early summer of 1922. A note next to this entry appears to say, “Shore with Comms on reduction,” – perhaps this indicates that Couta’s service was terminated as part of the scaling back of the Royal Navy at the end of the Great War.
Sometime between 1922 and June 1925, Couta joined the RAF (with the service number 356854). As well as being awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service with the Royal Navy during WWI, he was also awarded the General Service Medal with Southern Desert and Iraq clasp, which tells us that he served with the RAF in the campaigns against the Akhwan during 1928.
The Couta family lived in Linton Rd, Hove, during the Twenties and Thirties. On 24th May, 1931, he was fined 10s for riding a motorcycle at Bosham without being insured. He was also disqualified from holding a license for a year. Obviously, we know that Denis was at RAF Kenley with No.3 Fighter Squadron during 1938 but the following year his occupation is listed as “RAF Corporal, No.90 Squadron” on the England and Wales Register.
Sadly, we don’t know anything about Couta’s service during WWII.
He married Ivy Gwendoline Markham in East Glamorgan at the end of 1940, and was Mentioned in Despatches in the rank of Warrant Officer at the end of 1944. Post-war, Denis lived in the London area – in the early 1950’s he was living in Lee High Rd, Lewisham with his wife, Ivy. His death was registered in Lewisham in 1976.
Rest in peace Sir and thank you for your service.
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