Nathan was born in 1918 in Belleville, Cape Province, South Africa, the son of Salomon and Sete Cohen. Further details of the family are unknown. He enlisted into the RAF in Rhodesia in 1940.

Nathan was the pilot of Beaufighter JL843 which departed from RAF Leuchars at 10.50 on 4 May 1943 on an operation over the coast of Norway from Lister to Egero. While attacking a convoy of M 401, M 5202, D/S Taube and Boknafjord the Beaufighter was shot by flak from the flak battery based at Osbrestad and crashed into the North Sea. Nathan’s body was found washed ashore in Beach area no. 44 on Sogard Forstrand on the night of 22/23 June by the German Wehrmacht. The next day the Wehrmacht placed him in a coffin and took him to Lemvig where he was laid to rest in the cemetery on 26 Jun 1943. Report from Ringkøbing police.

Navigator Sgt Richard Percy Dormer, 658490 has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.