David was the son of Alexander and Adelaide née Benjamin of London. David’s parents married in 1921 in Marylebone. David was born in 1923, followed by his sister Natalie in 1925. David’s parents divorced and remarried, Alexander in 1933 to Sofie Gutkin and Adelaide to Joseph Cohen in 1938. In 1939, David and Natalie were living with their mother and step father Joseph in Hove, Sussex.

David was an air gunner on Lancaster ND337 which departed RAF East Kirkby on a night operation to Nürnberg. On the outbound journey the aircraft was intercepted by a night fighter and shot down crashing at Bickenbach, W. of Emmelshausen killing six of the crew.

Pilot, Ronald Leslie Clark, RAAF 408328
Nav, Kelvin Carlyle Green, RAAF 18111
A/G, Thomas Hughes, 1796514
F/E, William Donnan Jones, 1523059
W/Op, Norman Worboys, 1542876

A/B, Sgt R I Smith, 1220806. POW.
‘In a PoW Report Sergeant Smith stated: “The aircraft was on fire and the Captain ordered “abandon”. I was first out from my end but lost conscious immediately when leaving and did not see anyone else bale out. When I regained consciousness I did not see the aircraft in the air but there were fires on the ground below which may have been our aircraft. I landed in hilly country and out of sight of fires and unable to investigate’. National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/16/312