Sergeant (Air Gunner/Wireless Operator) David Lawrence AGNEW (1339644)
354 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 7th December 1924
Date of death: 11th March 1945

Killed in action aged 20
Commemorated on the Singapore Memorial Column 451
He was born at Canterbury on the 7th of December 1924, the younger son of Norman Leslie Agnew, bank official, and Doris Maud (nee Lawrence-Townsend) of Terhill, Whitstable Road, and later of Spes Bona, Stodmarsh Road, Canterbury.

He was educated at Kent College, Canterbury from 1933 to July 1936 and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1936 to March 1937 where he was in Marlowe House.

Following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as an Air Gunner and rose to the rank of Sergeant.

354 Squadron was formed at Drigh Road near Karachi on the 10th of May 1943 as part of Coastal Command in a general reconnaissance role and moved to Cuttack in India on the 17th of August 1943 . They operated Liberator Mk V bombers which harassed Japanese shipping in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. They moved to Minneriya in Ceylon on October the 12th 1944 but returned to Cuttack on the 5th of January 1945 when they received the new Liberator Mk VI aircraft.

Following their move David Agnew took part in a number of operations:-

On the 28th of January 1945 he took off at 12.57am in Liberator Mk VI Y KG850 piloted by Flying Officer McCreesh for a shipping patrol in the Western Channel. All ships that were sighted were friendly and they landed at 1.19pm.

On the 6th of February 1945 he took off at 12.44am in Liberator Mk VI V Victor KH194/6 piloted by Flying Officer McCreesh on an anti U Boat patrol. All vessels sighted were friendly and they landed at 10.56am.

On the 9th of February 1945 he took off at 5.53am Liberator Mk VI Y850 piloted by Flying Officer McCreesh for a shipping patrol. Numerous fishing vessels were seen but no enemy vessels were seen and they landed at 5.22pm.

On the 13th February 1945 he took off at 7.55pm in Liberator Mk VI V KH194/6 piloted by Squadron Leader F.G. Paisey to follow up an attack by other aircraft from the squadron who had attacked enemy shipping the previous day. They spotted an enemy submarine chaser in Stewart Sound and presumed it to be the vessel which had been unsuccessfully attacked the day before by other squadron aircraft. Attacking at low level they scored a number of direct hits which caused the vessel to burst into flames and sink. Other aircraft from the squadron also attacked and destroyed a beached coaster and another coaster which was at anchor and which was also blown to pieces. They also attacked a landing craft as well as an enemy harbour installation which attracted some return fire and caused some damage to their aircraft as a result.


On the 11th of March 1945 David Agnew was one of the crew of Liberator Mk VI KG850 Y Yankee piloted by Flying Officer McCreesh which took off from Cuttack with two other squadron aircraft at 4.51am on an anti-shipping sweep along the Tenasserin Coast. Although the weather was good, visibility was described as 'poor'. The three aircraft reached their patrol area at 10.52am and commenced their sweep in line abreast about a mile apart. At 11.04 am the other two aircraft in the formation attacked a schooner which was left in a sinking condition but Flying Officer McCreesh's aircraft was seen to continue on in search of a target and was last seen flying along the west coast of Tavoy Island. When the other two aircraft had completed their attack one of them attempted to raise Y Yankee on the radio but there was no response. Despite a search and rescue flight which, was carried out by two 354 Squadron Liberators and a Catalina, no trace of the aircraft was found and she was presumed to have ditched into the sea with the loss of the entire crew.


The crew was:-

Flying Officer Donald George McCreesh (Pilot)
Flying Officer Edmund Leonard Easton RCAF (2nd Pilot)
Flying Officer Charles Edwin Leese (Navigator)
Sergeant Reginald Stanley Wilkins (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman John Stringfield (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant David Lawrence Agnew (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Lennane (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Geoffrey Green (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Dennis Leonard Mould (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frank Maxted (Air Gunner)
Marlowe House

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