Rose Jette Goodman

Wartime Heritage ASSOCIATION

Remembering World War II

Name: Rank: Service No: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Place of Enlistment: Address at Enlistment: Age at Enlistment: Marital Status: Trade: Religion: Next of Kin: Date of Death: Age at Death: Memorial: Reference:

Rose Jette Goodman

Sources Veterans Affairs Canada findagrave.com

Rose Jette Goodman Section Officer V/30156 Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division (WD) No. 15 Service Flying Training School June 19, 1919 New Glasgow, NS October, 1941 Unknown New Glasgow NS 21 Single Student Jewish Solomen and Jeanette Goodman, of New Glasgow, NS January 26, 1943 23 Montréal (Shaar Hashomayin) Cemetery, Quebec 506 Commemorated on page 164 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 5 On January 26, 1943 Section Officer Rose Jette Goodman was a passenger in an aircraft (Crane 8739), piloted by Pilot Officer P.D. Meyers, (J/14002), returning to Claresholm on a cross-country flight from Lethbridge, Alberta. The aircraft crashed in field one mile south and seven miles East of Woodhouse, Alberta, at approximately 20:15 hours. Section Officer Goodman was instantly killed. Pilot Officer Meyers was slightly injured. The cause of the accident is obscure.

Extract from the page 31, “CANADIAN JEWS IN WORLD WAR II, Part II: Casualties”, compiled by David Rome for the Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, 1948: Section Officer Rose Jette Goodman of New Glasgow NS, was reported killed accidentally on February 1, 1943 (RCAF Casualty List No. 487). She was buried in the cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Sherith Israel in Montreal with full military honours, Rabbi Charles Bender officiating. Section Officer Goodman was killed January 26, 1943, when the Crane training plane in which she was flying from Lethbridge crashed near Claresholm, Alberta. She was the first member of the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force to lose her life on active service. Section Officer Goodman enlisted in the RCAF in October, 1941, and received her preliminary training in Toronto, where she was a member of the first class to graduate from the Administrative Training Course. After serving as sergeant instructress at Moncton, N.B., she was commissioned and was posted to Alberta as adjutant. The New Glasgow News wrote editorially of her passing (January 29, 1943): “It fell to the lot of Rose J. Goodman, one of a small group of girls who pioneered the Women’s Division of the R.C.A.F, to be also the first Canadian girls to give her life in the service of her country in the crash of one of His Majesty’s planes. “Section Officer Goodman, as she became after steadily rising from the ranks, was the type of cheerful and energetic girl who seems to grow up almost overnight; like the boys you see going to school one day who seem to appear before you the next in uniform and proudly wearing their pilot’s wings. “With boundless enthusiasm and her keen mind, it is not surprising that she advanced so rapidly. She was capable of accepting the additional responsibilities imposed on her by her superior officers. “The Women’s Division of the RCAF has proven itself of great value in the national war effort – just as it has in Britain, where the work of the WAAF is rounded applauded by the heroes of the Royal Air Force. “There was work to be done; she did it. “It was work that used to be done by men; was done by men in the days of 1918 warfare. But this is a different war and women today are serving; ‘serving, that men may fly’, as the Air Force posters state. “With her university training, Miss. Goodman – it is hard to think of her in military terms – could have chosen a less risky, but still useful vocation; or she could have chosen the so-called ‘social’ world and done not much of anything other than seeking her own pleasure. She could have disdained service in the ranks. “She made her choice; she has given her life for her country. She served – and died – that men may fly. That we may win the war “The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Goodman of New Glasgow, Rose J. Goodman was born in 1920. She attended school in New Glasgow and later Dalhousie University where she was prominent in student activities. She received her Bachelor of Arts in 1941. An accomplished violinist, Section Officer Goodman was a member of the New Glasgow Symphony Orchestra for several years. She was also active in Girl Guides, which is establishing a summer camp in her name in New Glasgow. A Rose Goodman Chapter of B’nai B’rith Girls was formed in Toronto in her honor.

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