David was born on 6 October 1920 in Hackney, London. His birth surname was Sherberkoff and his Polish born father was Abraham Sherberkoff and London born mother was Florence nee Marcosky. Abraham and Florence were married in Whitechapel, London in 1912 and had three children, David, Celia and Joan. At the outbreak of WW1 Abraham served in the Royal Fusiliers under the name of Sherberkoff and is mentioned in the Jewry Book of Honour. On 12 August 1920, Abraham became a Naturalised British citizen and on 29 September 1925 the family legally changed their surname to Davis. In 1921, the family lived at 11 Alvington Crescent, Hackney where Abraham worked as an upholsterer. The family then moved to Sunderland living at 35 Belle Vue Park Road where Abraham is an upholsterer and an A.R.P. ambulance driver.

David enlisted into the Royal Artillery in 1939 in Sunderland and after intense training the regiment was sent to fire watch at Glasgow and Liverpool awaiting orders. The Regiment was then given orders to sail to the Far East. David was captured on 15 February 1942 in the Battle for Singapore and was sent to the Japanese POW camp Changi/Malai 1. He died from Cholera on 16 June 1943.

David was buried with a Cross on his headstone and after our evidence was presented to the CWGC that he was Jewish they have agreed to change the symbol on his headstone to a Star of David.