Lance Bombardier David KING (1445271)
89th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery attached to No2 Commando

Date of birth: 15th August 1919
Date of death: 26th February 1945

Killed in action aged 25
Buried at Padua War Cemetery Plot II Row E Grave 13
He was born at Windsor on the 15th of August 1919, the son of Claude Percival King, an insurance official, and Mona (nee Humphreys) of Windsor Cottage, Tankerton Road, Whitstable, later of 13, Bramley Avenue, Coulsdon, Surrey.

He was educated at Eddington House, Herne Bay, and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1933 to July 1938, where he was a dayboy and in Marlowe House.

When war broke out he enlisted in the Royal Artillery where he rose to the rank of Lance Bombardier in the 89th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery.

He applied for a transfer to No 2 Commando who were recruiting and interviewing men who were serving in the Middle East and Italy to replace the losses they had suffered at Salerno. He underwent a period of intensive training in Italy and in early 1944 he joined them while they were based on the island of Vis.

No 2 Commando were using VIs as a base from which they were launching attacks against German coastal forces in order to stretch enemy capacity. These predominately small scale raids were often carried out in co-operation with local Yugoslav partisan forces. David King saw action in many of the larger scale operations at Solta, Mljet, Brac 11, Spilje, and Sarande, as well as in a number of the smaller ones. In July 1944 they returned to Italy.

On the 20th of February 1945 No 2 Commando was based at Ravenna when they received orders to come under the command of the 12th Royal Lancers and to form a new formation to be called "12 Lancer Force". At 11am they set off for positions at Fatt Responi, near Lake Comachio where they arrived at 1pm. They spent the next few days patrolling and were under spasmodic shelling and mortar fire. At 11.10am on the 26th of February 1945 David King's Troop was at a position known as "C. Martini" when the enemy artillery fired thirty rounds of shellfire on the position. He was killed and four other ranks were wounded, one of whom, Lance Sergeant Norman Murray Priggen Campbell, died of his wounds later in the day.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at All Saints Church, Whitstable.
Marlowe House

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