“When many months had passed after our son, Ian, had been reported missing and we had to face the probability of not seeing him on earth again, my wife and I felt that we should like to do something in his memory.”
JM Meiring Grey College Bloemfontein 1945
Pilot Officer Rosofsky flew No 9 Squadron Wellingtons, possibly participated in the September 4th 1939 North Sea sortie when the squadron lost 10 aircrew but four days later, Rosofsky and 4 crew members lost their lives when their Wellington, destined for bombing practice, crashed after taking –off .On September 9th Mrs Bertha Rosofsky, a widow living in Killarney Johannesburg, had the unwelcome distinction of receiving the first Air Ministry Telegram sent to South Africa confirming her 26- year-old son had been killed in a flying accident.
Harold Rosofsky, the first South African RAF airman and of Jewish faith to lose his life in the Second World War, was educated at King Edwards in Johannesburg. Thought to have disguised his faith in the event of capture, he was buried in the Honington All Saints Parish Churchyard with his crew but 76 years later, the Star of David replaced the Cross on his headstone.
The second, also a flying accident casualty, St Andrews College educated 19-year-old Keith Bartram Chiazzari , commissioned as an “acting Pilot Officer on probation” in April 1939, possibly influenced by his uncle, First World War Veteran Air Commodore Leonard Slatter. His parents in Kwazulu-Natal were devastated by the September 15th “Regret to inform you...” telegram advising their son had lost his life.
Two weeks later, Kwazulu-Natal farmer and Member of Parliament, George Heaton-Nicholls and his family experienced the uncertain agony of an Air Ministry telegram advising that their 21- year- old son Derek, a Michaelhouse educated Cranwell graduate, was “Missing as a result of Operations against the Enemy”. The only survivor after his No 244 Squadron Hudson was shot down over Northern Germany on September 30th, he attended the military funeral accorded to his three crew members by the Germans, his “POW” status was only confirmed several weeks later.
From “The Dreaded Telegram”, chapter 7 of Jon Eagar's book. About the book.