Aubrey Cosens was born to a First World War veteran in Latchford, Ontario, on the 21st of May 1921.
He moved at a young age to Porquis Junction, near Iroquois Falls, Ontario and was educated in the Porquis Junction School. In 1938, he left school 1938 to work on the railway with his father as a second hand. In 1939 he attempted to join the Royal Canadian Air Force but his application was rejected. In 1940, he went to Hamilton, Ontario and was enlisted in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, with whom he served in Canada, Jamaica and England, eventually earning the rank of corporal.
In the summer of 1944 he transferred to the1st Battalion of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, serving in Europe with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, and was soon promoted to sergeant. Cosens was acting as the Platoon Sergeant of 16 Platoon during the action in which he earned the Victoria Cross.
Aubrey Cosens is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
His Victoria Cross is held by the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta.
Cosens as a corporal with The
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.
There are no known photographs of him
in the uniform of the Queen's Own Rifles.
