History - Jewish Canadian service in the Second World War

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Service in the air force

Despite the Royal Canadian Air Force initially having recruiting policies that included restrictive ethnic and citizenship elements, especially for officers, a remarkable number of Jewish Canadians would become airmen during the Second World War. Indeed, almost 5,900 Jews would eventually join the air force—2.6 percent of that branch’s total enlistment at a time when Jews made up only 1.5 percent of Canada’s total population. The duty that they had sought out so determinedly, however, could be particularly dangerous. Some 250 Jews were among the more than 18,000 Royal Canadian Air Force members who lost their lives during the conflict.

Jewish Canadian airmen would take part in operations in all major theatres of the air war but many, like Dave Waterman of Calgary and Meyer Greenstein of Toronto, were part of Bomber Command. Operating from bases in eastern England, aircrews would fly on perilous bombing raids over Germany and occupied Europe seeking to destroy targets such as factories and bridges. Often undertaking nighttime raids in large four-engine warplanes, such as Halifax and Lancaster bombers, they bravely pressed forward through barrages of flak from German anti-aircraft guns and the deadly fire of enemy fighter planes. The harsh odds of survival made it one of the most dangerous roles a serviceman could have during the war, and a sobering 42 percent of those who served in Bomber Command did not survive their tour of duty. Michael Jacobs of Montréal, who completed his tour of duty of more than 30 bombing runs over Europe before losing his life in a training crash in England in February 1943, no doubt spoke for many when he wrote home to his wife Sue, “God, sometimes I get scared in those planes.”

Jewish airmen would indeed more than carry their weight in this challenging role. Some, like pilot Clifford Shnier of Manitoba, were members of the skilled “Pathfinder” crews that led the way on Bomber Command’s nighttime missions. These men navigated over thousands of square kilometres of blacked-out countryside to find their targets below for the main bomber force that followed. Albert Garshowitz of Hamilton, Ontario, was part of the crews selected to fly on the very important but exceptionally dangerous “Dambusters” bombing missions in May 1943 to hit German dams in the Ruhr Valley in order to cause major damage and cut the power supply for the heavy wartime industry that operated there.

Jewish air force members would find themselves serving in a variety of roles in bomber aircrews. Interestingly, however, many Jews became navigators or air observers. Those with high marks in science in high school or a university education—a cohort that included many Jewish recruits—were frequently funneled into these specialized trades that relied heavily on mathematics. Leon Kagna of Edmonton, Nathan Issacs of Toronto and Ray Silver of Windsor, Ontario, saw action in Bomber Command in these kinds of roles.

Jewish airmen would also serve beyond Bomber Command. Some, like Bill Zelikovitz of Ottawa and Nathan Berger of Montréal, flew in Dakota transport planes that dropped Allied paratroopers into occupied France in the pre-dawn hours on D-Day. Other Canadian Dakota aircrews, including Norman Cohen of Toronto, served on the other side of the world with Royal Canadian Air Force transport squadrons in Burma, conducting operations against the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. Airmen, like Tim Pervin of Montréal and Lawrence “Duke” Abelson of Ottawa, also flew with fighter squadrons that dueled with enemy fighter planes for control of the skies.

Coastal Command, which saw Allied warplanes striking enemy targets at sea, was another area in which Canadian airmen served. The highly decorated airmen Alfred Brenner of Toronto and Sydney Shulemson of Montréal patrolled the skies off the coasts of Western Europe and North America, looking to attack German naval vessels, warplanes and merchant shipping. The Battle of the Atlantic was a central struggle in the Second World War, and Coastal Command played an important role in helping the Allies take control of the seas.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan saw more than 132,000 air force recruits from Commonwealth countries around the world train in Canada, far from the dangerous skies of enemy-held territory. While most Jewish airmen wanted to be in an aircrew, those who were rejected for medical reasons (such as poor eyesight), including Leo Guttman of Montréal, would find themselves filling important roles as mechanics at British Commonwealth Air Training Plan bases. An eye injury from his pre-war hockey career meant that Mitch Pechet of Cupar, Saskatchewan, served as a flight instructor training the young airmen who would take the fight to the enemy. He also played for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s hockey teams. Some Jewish airmen, like Maurice Lipton of Sydney, Nova Scotia, would also hold key leadership positions. After rising through the ranks to command a night fighter squadron in Scotland, Lipton would return to Canada to run all air training in our country in the latter phases of the war. He ended the war a recipient of the prestigious Air Force Cross. 

The Royal Air Force’s Ferry Command also attracted Jewish airmen like Sam Donen of Winnipeg. Ferry Command crews flew newly manufactured bombers from North America to Europe where they could be used in the fighting against the Germans. The planes were flown across the North Atlantic or via a more southerly route but always over lonely waters where the margins for error were slim. Some aircrews were lost due to challenging weather conditions or mechanical difficulties in the course of making these dangerous, long-distance voyages.

Through it all, ground crew personnel took care of the important duties that kept the planes in the air. Without men like Israel Yamron of Winnipeg, who was stationed on Vancouver Island where he helped maintain military seaplanes, air force operations would have come to a halt. Countless Jews would also serve in other support roles, including Melville Neuman of Regina who maintained radio transmitters in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Rose Goodman of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, who was an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force–Women’s Division. She served as adjutant at an airbase in Claresholm, Alberta.

It indeed took great courage to take to the skies in the face of so many dangers, but Jewish airmen not only met these challenges, they excelled. Some of them, like Bill Novick and Sydney Shulemson of Montréal, Melville Isenberg of Toronto, and Harry Knobovitch of Montréal, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, a decoration “…awarded to officers and Warrant Officers for an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy.” Ottawa air gunner Joe Bodnoff was awarded the Air Force Medal for helping sink the German submarine U-1244 in June 1944 and for his actions immediately after. When his shot-up Canso crashed into the sea as a result of the doomed submarine’s counterattack, Bodnoff tried to keep his fellow crewmen alive in a dinghy in the frigid North Sea off the coast of Norway. When the men were finally picked up 21 hours later, three of the eight men, including pilot David Hornell, had died of exposure. Hornell was later awarded the first Victoria Cross given to a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Did you know?

Flight training during the Second World War might have taken place away from the threat of enemy action, but it was still very dangerous for our airmen. Indeed, some 460 Canadian recruits lost their lives in flying accidents that took place at British Commonwealth Air Training Plan bases across the country. At least 20 Jews were among this unfortunate number, including Norman Kendall of Toronto who lost his life in June 1942 when his plane crashed into a barn in southwestern Ontario.