Sergeant David Southey
David Southey was just 19 when his war was over, suffering serious head injuries he was not able to return to flying and was invalided out of the RAF on D-Day. However David had previously served with another crew , they all went on a course to Worcester and David stayed on for another course. Whilst in Worcester had visited The Star Hotel on Foregate, Scotty McCallum purloined a tankard which the rest of the crew had engraved and presented to David when they returned to base. They were all lost on their next raid, a training course had inadvertently saved David life. David, and his family, treasured that tankard which carries such an emotional story.
In the picture below David is second from the right, and Scotty is first right
It is difficult to believe that men as young as David, who was just 18 when he lost his first crew, could cope with the stress and rigours of flying a thirty ton Short Stirling bomber over occupied Europe.
And it also is a huge tribute to his skill as a co-pilot that he was trusted at such young age by men who in most instances were his elders. A truly remarkable young man.
