Birth name Frank Rowlerson.
Service No. R97521 Royal Canadian Air Force # 75 Squadron
Died: September 10, 1942.
Frank was born June 24, 1922, in South Shields, Durham, England, the younger son of Dr. John Rowlerson and Doris (Dorothy) Brason. His father, a bone and nerve specialist, had been in the Royal Army Medical Corps in WW1. His father died in 1925.
Frank and his mother immigrated to Winnipeg in early 1927. In 1928, his mother married Arthur James Burrill. Frank assumed his step-father’s surname, making the change legal in March 1941. The family then moved to Denzil, Saskatchewan, where Frank’s elder brother joined them in 1929. Frank attended the Wollerman School near Denzil. In 1934, the family moved to North Oyster, where they had a store at the junction of Highway 1 and Cedar Road. Frank attended North Oyster School, then Ladysmith High School, graduating in 1940.
Frank started work in the forestry industry. On September 22, 1940, he applied to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, requesting to be trained as a pilot. On March 6, 1941, he was enlisted into the RCAF. He completed his pilot training, receiving his flying badge and a promotion to sergeant in November 1941. He arrived in the United Kingdom in February 1942.
Frank was trained to pilot a twin engine Vickers Wellington bomber. He was assigned to a training squadron, then RAF #101 squadron, and finally #75 New Zealand Squadron. On September 10, 1942, he flew his bomber “Rosaline” (#BJ958) from the airbase at Mildenhall, Suffolk, on a bombing raid over Dusseldorf, Germany. He and his crew never returned. They were listed as missing and presumed dead. Frank was posthumously promoted to Flight Sergeant.
His parents moved to Victoria during the war. His mother, Doris, wrote several letters asking for more information on Frank, but received no satisfactory reply. In the 1950’s, Frank’s parents and brother moved to the U.S.
Frank is commemorated on the Runnymede (Air Forces) Memorial in Surrey, England, on the Ladysmith Cenotaph and in the 1942-43 edition of Spion Kop, the Ladysmith High School yearbook.
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