Flying Officer Lawrence Abelson of Ottawa, Ontario, was killed during a training flight (R.C.A.F. Casualty List No. A-730). He was awarded his Operation Wing posthumously. Flying Officer “Duke” Abelson enlisted in the Air Force on November 6, 1940, and trained at Victoriaville, Quebec, and Regina, Saskatchewan, before graduating as Observer from Mossbank, Saskatchewan, where he was awarded a gold R.C.A.F. disc for leading his class. He was stationed at Rivers, Manitoba, when he was commissioned. After serving as an instructor at Chatham, New Brunswick, and Mountain View, Ontario, Flying Officer Abelson proceeded overseas in the fall of 1942. Before being attached to the No. 418 R.C.A.F. (City of Edmonton) Mosquito Squadron, he took a wireless course in England. Honours and awards: Defence Medal; CVSM & Clasp; War Medal 1939-45; Aircrew Europe Star. (From “There I Was ... A Collection of Reminiscences by Members of the Ottawa Jewish Community Who Served in World War II,” published by the Ottawa Post Jewish War Veterans and the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society.)
Pilot Officer Hyman Abrams, R.C.A.F., of Montreal, was killed in a flying accident overseas on August 3, 1941, according to an official report. He had been in England only six weeks when he met his death. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in July 1940 and was given a commission as observer after graduating from Rivers, Manitoba, in May 1941. He went overseas the following month, one of the first members of the R.C.A.F. to cross the Atlantic aboard a bomber. A brother, William Abrams, was the first executive secretary of the War Efforts Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress.
Flying Officer Joseph Ash, of Ottawa, Ontario, was reported missing after air operations (R.C.A.F. Casualty List No. 468) over the North Sea on November 2, 1942, and was presumed dead (R.C.A.F. Casualty List No. 702) on October 9, 1943. Flying Officer Ash trained at St. Hubert, Quebec, Chatham, New Brunswick, and Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and graduated from the Initial Training School at Victoriaville, Quebec, receiving his wings in April 1942. Flying Officer Ash went overseas in May 1942 and was attached to an R.A.F. Training Flight. Honours and awards: Defence Medal; CVSM and Clasp; War Medal 1939-45. (From “There I Was ... A Collection of Reminiscences by Members of the Ottawa Jewish Community Who Served in World War II,” published by the Ottawa Post Jewish War Veterans and the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society.)
Book : printed, bound, gilded, dyed : grey, gold, pink, beige ; Ht: 16,5 cm x W: 10,8 cm
Other Title Information
Documentary Artifact
Date
1929
Physical Condition
Poor
Language
English
Hebrew
Notes
329+ pages (exact number unknown). Hardcover, cardboard bound with string. Cover is dark grey with a gilded title on the spine. Page edges are pink. Interior pages are beige with text, when the book is laying flat, the left side is in English and the right side is in Hebrew, the page numbers are the same on the corresponding English and Hebrew sides.
Gunner Charles Barron of Toronto, Ontario, died of wounds on June 10, 1944, according to an official report. He was buried in the East Ham (Jewish) Special Cemetery of the United Synagogues at London, England.