Bernard was born in July 1923 in Sculcoates, Yorkshire to Polish born parents Harry and Cissie nee Levene and he had two sisters, Rita and Freda. Bernard was a member of the Young Zionist Society in Hull and was a keen swimmer with the Hull Judeans Club. The family ran a wholesale vegetable and fruit store in Kingston upon Hull in 1939. Bernard’s parents divorced in early 1940 and they both remarried.

Bernard enlisted into the RAF at the end of 1941 and trained as a navigator. He married Betty Hawkins in Knaresborough in 1944 when she was eighteen and he was twenty. They were married for a year before he was killed.

Bernard was the navigator on Beaufighter NV256 alongside Pilot Robert Duff Mackenzie, 137396 which departed from Chiringa. The 27 Squadron O.R.B. states:

The remaining two aircraft on the day’s Form ‘B’ were detailed to cover road targets TOUNGOO to KEMAPYU to LOIKAW. F/Sgt H. N. Moss and F/Sgt A. R. Sorbie in A/C NV367 were leading a new crew. F/O R. MacKenzie and F/O B. Tallerman in NV256. The leader lost sight of his No.2 NE of SO-LYA-AKU, LW.6857 at 13.41 hrs. He made a circuit but was unable to locate the A/C and having completed his patrol set course for base.
On being de-briefed, F/Sgt H.N. Moss stated that he last saw ‘U’ flying about 300 yards astern at 4000ft turning east to avoid a high peak and it was thought that the aircraft may have been unable to gain sufficient height and crashed in the hill side.