Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

This biography is an extract from 'ANZAC Muslims: An Untold Story' by Dr Dzavid Haveric

(Haveric, Dzavid. "ANZAC Muslims: An Untold Story." Australian Journal of Islamic Studies 3, Iss 3 (2018): 78-102.)
 
Flight sergeant Moheddeen Abdul Ghias (also written as Abdul Kaus), known as ‘Bob’ Howsan, served in the RAAF in World War II. He was the grandson of two of the first Muslim families to settle in Mt Gravatt and the eldest son of Mr and Mrs Fred Madeen Howsan, also of Mt Gravatt, Brisbane. He was educated at Buranda Boys’ School and Brisbane Boys’ Grammar School. After the outbreak of the war, he joined the Air Force in 1940 and left Australia in April 1941 for training in Canada, before going on to England. His younger brother, Hamid Abe Howsan, also joined the RAAF and survived the war [82]. Bob Howsan wrote to his parents:

You know Mum and Dad, it may seem strange to other people but I have a very strong
feeling that I am coming back to Australia safe and sound. It can be described in one word – faith. I have it, so neither you nor I have any cause to worry [83].

A cushion cover from Egypt was the last gift sent home to his mother in Brisbane, a few months before he died in action [84]. The plane he piloted was shot down in aerial combat over France and he was killed. Before the plane crashed, Sergeant Howsan steered the stricken aircraft away from the French village of Marly-le-Roi, near Versailles, to avoid falling on the village and causing civilian casualties. He served with No. 405 Squadron, RCAF [85]. The Minister for Air and members of the Air Board gave formal expression of their profound sympathy to Sergeant Howsan’s family in their great loss. An acknowledgement letter also came from Buckingham Palace:

The Queen and I offer you
our heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow.
We pray that your country’s
Gratitude for a life so nobly
Given in its service may bring
you some measure of consolation.
King George R. I. [86]

Bob Howsan was buried with full military honours. In the letter from the office of the Directorate of War Graves Service stated:

His grave will be cared for by the Imperial War Graves Commission and you may be assured that everything possible will be done to ensure that it is maintained in a manner befitting one who has given his life in the service of his country. I trust this knowledge issome consolation to you and loss [87].

In the words of Bob Howsan’s parents “death is but the gateway to eternal life.” In loving memory of their brother, his two sisters dedicated the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee (1922 - 1941):

Oh. I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled, soared, and swung
High in the sunlit silence, hovering there
I've chased the shouting wind along,
And flung my eager craft through footless halls of air
Up, the long, delirious blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew
And while with silent, lifting mind
I've trod the high, untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand and touched the face of God

His loving Sisters, Lucy and Muriel [88].

[82] crescentsofbrisbane.org/Newsletter/CCN0486.asp.
[83] Bob Howsan’s dairy. (From Queensland Muslim Historical Society’s
collection).
[84] crescentsofbrisbane.org/Newsletter/.
[85] Ibid.
[86] Letter from Buckingham Palace, n.d. (From Queensland Muslim Historical Society’s
collection).
[87] From the official letter, 10. 7. 1945. (From Queensland Muslim Historical Society’s
collection).
[88] "Roll of Honour" Courier Mail (Brisbane, Qld: 1933-1954), Monday 1 April 1946, p.10.