Temporary Lieutenant John Godwin, RNVR (13 December 1919[1] – 2 February 1945) was a British naval officer.

Born and brought up in Argentina, he took part in a raid named Operation Checkmate on Axis shipping near Haugesund, north of Stavanger, Norway.

However, Godwin and his comrades were not executed at Grini, but instead sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where contrary to the Geneva Convention, they were forced to march 30 miles a day on cobbles testing army boots.

Godwin managed to wrestle the pistol of the firing party commander from his belt and shoot him dead before being himself shot.

The citation, in The London Gazette, 9 October 1945, read: "For great gallantry and inspiring example whilst a prisoner of war in German hands in Norway and afterwards at Sachsenhausen, near Oranienburg, Germany, 1942–1945".