GOODMAN, Rose Jette
Age at Death: 23
Rank Section Officer
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number V30156
Place of Burial Shaar Hashomayin Cemetery, Montreal PQ
Date of Birth 1919.06.19
Place of Birth New Glasgow NS
Enlistment
Date of Death 1943.01.26
Daughter of Solomen and Jeanette Goodman of New Glasgow, NS
The daughter of Austrian Jewish immigrants, Ruth grew up in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She enlisted with the RCAF in October 1941 and got enthusiastic reports from her officers. In July 1942, she was posted to No. 15 EFTS in Claresholm, Alberta. That December, she was recommended for promotion and appointed to the rank of Acting Section Officer.
On January 26, 1943, she boarded an aircraft to Lethbridge to attend the wedding of two colleagues; she was the bridesmaid and the pilot, Petty Officer Peter Meyers, was the best man. Following the wedding, they returned towards Claresholm, but Meyers lost control in the dark, cloudy night. He made the decision to crash-land the plane, and shouted at Rose to abandon the aircraft, but for reasons unknown she was unable to. Meyers was only mildly injured in the crash, but Rose died upon impact. She was the first RCAF Women’s Division casualty of WWII.
In a letter to her chief of staff thanking him for his sympathetic words, Rose’s father, Solomon Goodman, wrote: “The loss is a heavy one and is keenly felt and bears out again that the price of liberty is not money but BLOOD, TEARS and SWEAT.”