James Gowing Godwin

James Gowing Godwin (12 March 1923–2 May 1995) was a Royal New Zealand Navy aviator, prisoner of war, war crimes investigator and colonial administrator. After the end of World War II, as a captain in the Australian Army he became an investigator with the Second Australian War Crimes Section in Tokyo in July 1947; he developed the case against Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura for ordering the mass execution and cremation of 155 wounded Australian and Indian soldiers at war crimes at the Parit Sulong Massacre. He also worked for the First Australian War Crimes Section, based in Singapore, then worked for the British colonial service.

He was born in Blenheim, Nelson, New Zealand on 12 March 1923.