Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Sergeant H. F. Roza, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action while serving in No. 77 Squadron during the famous strike on the secret rocket site at Peenemunde on the night of 17-18 August 1943

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, together with original card forwarding box, with remnants of address label, named and numbered medal entitlement slip and Air Ministry condolence slip in the name of ‘Sergeant H. F. Roza’, good very fine £250-300

Henry Francis Roza served as a Sergeant in No. 77 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Elvington.

On the night of 17-18 August 1943, his Halifax, piloted by Sergeant F. E. Shefford, was among those ordered to attack the secret rocket site at Peenemunde. Nothing further was heard from the pilot or crew after take-off and, as cited in Martin Middlebrook’s The Peenemunde Raid, their aircraft is believed to have been hit by flak in the run-in to the target - it exploded in the air, its bomb-load still on board. None of the crew have known graves and all are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Roza, the son of Francis Vincent and Elizabeth Ann Roza of Liverpool, was just 19 years old.