Maurice was born on 24 September 1918 in Islington, London to Moss and Marie nee Murphy and he had one sister Joyce. In 1921, the family lived at 50 Kyverdale Road, Stoke Newington and Moss was listed as working as a tobacconist assistant. By 1939 the family were living at 32 Mowbray Road, Hendon. Moss was now a tobacconist manager and Maurice was working as a commercial motor driver.

Maurice enlisted into the RAF at the beginning of the war and after training was posted to 35 Squadron. Maurice was an air gunner on Halifax W1015 which departed from RAF Kinloss on a night operation to bomb the German warship Tirpitz. Maurice was also known with the surname Cowan on his records. Details of the crash can be found on the website by Linzee Druce. http://www.archieraf.co.uk/archie/1015tlp3031.html