F. O. Frederick Heath Broad: Typhoon Pilot Shot Down Over Holland

​Before my dad moved to England in 1998, he took me aside and gave me a precious keepsake he had held since the Second World War. I had never seen it before. It was a scarf worn by his cousin Frederick Heath Broad (1923-1944) in the local Cub Scouts group in Toronto. The reason for the transfer of ownership to me was that my dad did not want it to get lost as he relocated across the Atlantic to England.

My dad told me that Fred had been a close friend when they were kids, and before he had departed to go overseas Fred had given the scarf to my dad for safekeeping. But Fred never returned – and my dad held on to the scarf for half a century.

When my dad passed it to me he included a handwritten note to remind of the meaning and origins of the scarf. He wrote: "This cub neckerchief was given to me by my cousin before he went to England in the early 1940s as a fighter pilot with the RCAF. He was Dorothy's brother and was shot down over Holland in 1944. He flew a Typhoon. I wore this as a member of the same cub pack at the Church of the Messiah in Toronto. It is the two colours of their pack. It has been a treasure for many years. It has happy and sad associations. Above all it was the thought-filled gift of my cousin who was soon to give his life in the battle to free Europe from the terrors of Nazi rule." 
 
Like many who enlisted in both world wars, Fred and his parents (Frederick Broad and Doris Heath) and grandparents (Walter and Minnie Heath) had been born in England but had emigrated to Canada.
 
Loyalty to his homeland and to his new nation was on display as he enlisted as a young man in the RCAF. He became a Flying Officer and piloted a Typhoon.
 
Fred was involved in ground attack operations as the Allies advanced into occupied Europe. He had 60 successful missions since D-Day, so he was a highly experienced and successful pilot at the time of his death in November 1944. The records indicate that his plane went down in enemy occupied Holland with fire coming from a wing. As the records below show, it is surmised that the damage to the plane was probably from enemy ground fire. Fred went down with his plane and did not survive the crash.
 
Someday I hope to visit his grave site in Holland.
 
I can only imagine the grief that must have been felt by his parents (Frederick and Doris), wife (Alice), sister (Dorothy), and extended family[1] when they received word that Fred had died in service to his country and empire. But I do have a sense of why my dad kept the scarf – it was a tangible link to a dearly loved friend and cousin, and a vivid and ongoing reminder of the sacrifice sometimes required for own’s country. 
 
And so I keep the scarf. And like my father before me, I will someday pass it on to one of my children.


(Below are a batch of photos and official documents that tell a bit of Fred's story. Hopefully they honour him and his sacrifice.)

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[1] Doris was the sister of my paternal grandfather (Leslie). In other words, Leslie and Doris were the two children of Walter and Minnie Heath. Leslie was my dad’s father, my grandfather.