Royal Canadian Air Force

Ottawa, Canada, 9th January, 1947.

Mrs. B. Patzer,

371 – 2nd Ave. North,

Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

Dear Mrs. Patzer:

Information has been received from the Authorities Overseas regarding your son, Flying Officer Edwin Frederick Patzer.

Your son’s aircraft crashed at Oberhaussem 15 miles west of Cologne, Germany. As you were previously advised Flying Officers Henson and May, Pilot Officer Daley and Flight Sergeant McIntosh are safe. An investigation by our Search Teams has revealed that your son, Pilot Officer Mendenhall and Sergeant Grant were laid to rest in a Communal Grave in the cemetery at Oberhaussem. It is regretted that the severe nature of the crash prevented individual identification.

British Military Cemeteries have been located at a number of points in Germany, and all Royal Canadian Air Force personnel buried in Germany will be moved to these cemeteries, where the graves will be supported and sustained by the Dominion of Canada and entrusted to the Imperial War Graves Commission for reverent and perpetual care and the erection of a headstone over each grave. The task of preparing and erecting these headstones will naturally take considerable time. It is not necessary to write to the Imperial War Graves Commission, as you will be contacted by them before the stone is prepared.

May I again, at this time, offer my sincere sympathy at the loss of your gallant son.

Yours sincerely,

R.C.A.F. Casualty Officer,

For Chief of the Air Staff.