David Fielding Smith: December 20, 1947-March 3, 2024

A BUGLER sounded the Last Post at the funeral of a Falklands War hero following his long battle with leukaemia.

Lt Cdr David Fielding Smith MBE lived in Henley from 2009 to 2016 and was a driving force behind Henley’s twinning with Bled and the 2012 Olympic torch parade in the town.

As a lieutenant in the Falklands War in 1982, he led an aircraft maintenance team on board the fast-fleet tanker RFA Olmeda, charged with keeping Sea King helicopters battle-ready in the arduous conditions of the South Atlantic.

Comrades from the Fleet Air Arm paid tribute to the 76-year-old following his funeral at West Berkshire Crematorium in Thatcham.

Commander Ian McKenzie, his Falklands commander, said: “David was a Royal Navy Air Engineer Officer on 824 Sqn A Flight when it was tasked with embarking from RNAS Culdrose to Royal Fleet Auxiliary Olmeda in Plymouth on April 4, 1982.

“The two Sea King helicopters for which he was responsible had been hangared ready for Easter leave when orders were received to embark. Forty-eight hours later, both machines were on Olmeda being readied for war.

“The ship’s magazines were loaded with torpedoes and depth charges. The task force of an aircraft carrier and 24 surface ships sailed on April 6 with an uncertain future ahead.

“David’s team maintained those aircraft during the round-the-clock anti-submarine screen on the 8,000-mile passage to the Falklands.

“In early June, after the landings had taken place, both aircraft with 24 aircrew and maintainers were ordered into San Carlos Water for a 24-hour period of load-lifting stores from the support ships to the forward operating bases dotted around the Sound.

“It took more than five hours’ flying to reach San Carlos to arrive by first light on the first day and then continued all day until darkness fell.

“The first night was spent shivering in tents until David found a suitable barn in the settlement with a stove and shelter.

“With his affable good-natured style, he persuaded seven RAF Chinook aircrew to seek alternative accommodation.

“Each morning the machines were ready at first light and flew all day during frequent air raids, lifting ammunition, stores, food, mail and water to the troops around the Sound.

“This detachment planned for 24 hours eventually returned to the ship after four days.

“Credit must go to David and his team for keeping the helicopters flying and on-task day and night.

“On June 20 the ship was ordered to sail to the icy waters of Southern Thule, an island in the South Sandwich Islands where a group of scientists guarded by Argentinian troops was refusing to surrender.

“David’s task was to strip a helicopter of all its Anti-Submarine Warfare equipment so that it could carry 24 marines, in light order, to the enemy’s position.

“With all internal seating and sonar equipment removed, and the sonar hole in the hull boarded up, the aircraft took off in a blizzard to land the first company of marines. It then returned to embark the next company to allow a co-ordinated attack ashore.

“With the successful attack completed, prisoners of war taken and a surrender secured, David and his team then used the return voyage to rebuild the helicopter to its original operational condition.

“For his part in the four-month campaign he was awarded a richly-deserved MBE.”

Jan Cox, formerly of RNAS Yeovilton, said David was always kind and encouraging to the men in his command.

His good friend and former Henley mayor Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak described David as a “dashing James Bond character” who was instrumental in the setting up of Henley’s twinning link with Bled in Slovenia in 2013.

He tackled the town-twinning “with SBS verve and vigour”, he said.

The plan to twin with Bled had been years in the making but once David had joined the organising committee it happened in just six months.

David’s wife Lizzie told how his wartime bravery stood him well in his 25-year fight against leukaemia.

She said he was made an MBE for “exceptional performance and leadership over an extended period of time in wartime conditions”.

She continued: “For those who saw him at the end it would be easy to forget the man he once was. But throughout his long, long battle with leukaemia, right up until the end, he remained true to the way he led his life: strong, courageous, invincible; a leader of men in the face of adversity. This was his gift to the world.”

Mrs Fielding Smith told how David once came to the rescue on a light aircraft flight to Nairobi when a terrible storm blew up and the pilot lost his bearings while headed towards mountains.

David calmly took the controls and landed safely. The two other passengers were so relieved that they kissed the tarmac.

Giving the eulogy, his long-term friend Cdr Andrew Wynn LVO RN told how Glasgow-born David joined the Navy at 17 and achieved promotion to officer at the age of 29.

He was picked as “best man for the job” to create an air engineering department from scratch on the then new aircraft carrier Ark Royal. “His experience had been earned the hard way three years earlier in the cold and hostile waters of the South Atlantic,” he said.

Cdr Wynn told how David played guitar on Olmeda all the way down to the Falklands.

He also enjoyed gliding and long-distance cycling to raise funds for the Nomad youth and community project in Henley.

Cdr Wynn paid tribute to David’s “outstanding character, intelligence, inquisitive nature and leadership skills”.

The pair later wrote a book about the iconic warship called HMS Ark Royal: The Ship and Her Men.

When David retired from the navy he became a business consultant in Kenya where he met his wife.

The couple moved to Portugal after his leukaemia diagnosis and then to Henley for several years before settling in nearby Woodcote.

He is survived by Lizzie, two daughters and two sons, all of whom spoke at the funeral.

The Last Post and Reveille were sounded by Bandmaster WO1 Antonio Socci, of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Warwickshire.

The family has asked for donations to the Royal Navy Officers' Charity, which was a huge support to David.