His parents Gordon and Susan: "To try and capture David’s personality, character and what he meant to us is so very difficult and personal. David came into this world on May 31, 1990, and grew up surrounded by love with his older brothers Gareth and Mark. When he left school he went onto further education and began training as a motor mechanic and although he enjoyed this, his heart was not in it. He followed his older brother Gary into the military.
"We were very proud when David left home for the Royal Irish Regiment Training Centre, Cattrick, in January 2010. In phone calls home, he talked a lot about the training, but more about the great friendships he had forged. A week before his passing out he had phoned us and laughed that he was glad he hadn’t joined the Royal Scots as it was easier to iron a pair of trousers than a kilt.
"David passed out on July 24, 2010, and it was with immense pride, joy and tears that we, his brother Mark and David’s best friend watched him, march off the square. We learned that David would deploy with his Regiment to Afghanistan in September. We were worried, of course, about his deployment: we had an older son, Gareth, who had completed two tours of Iraq and was currently in Afghanistan, and, not understanding the logistics, we made Gareth promise to 'pop over and check on David'. David's phone calls home brightened up our days. We were told after that David would always leave the welfare phone back drained of battery.
"David came home on leave November 2010, and we saw a change in him. We had sent the military our youngest precious son and he had returned a well-grounded young man. We had planned an early Christmas for David; it was our last Christmas with our son.
"It has been three years nine months since our world crashed. On February 4, 2011, at 06:59 David was fatally shot. So began the roller-coaster of emotion. On February 10, he was repatriated to Wootten Bassett. With the help of Lady Silvia Hermon MP, we were allowed to see our son at Bristol Hospital on February 11 and for that we are eternally grateful. He looked beautiful, perfect.
"David returned home to us on February 15, his funeral was on February 18, 2011; it was a military funeral carried out with professionalism and dignity, his brother Gareth was part of the Military Bearer Party. On April 11, we met with S.I.B., we had a full, frank and sometimes brutal briefing but we learned how David died. On April 23 we met with the Rev Andrew Totten (Padre 1 Royal Irish Reg) at our home. The Rev Totten had been there and this was, to us, the most informative, gentle meeting to date, as it was explained to us in detail how David’s death had effected his Platoon, how the soldier who accidently shot David reacted. We watched a DVD that David’s Platoon had compiled and this put a human touch to this tragic accident. We began to understand and for that we cannot thank the Rev Totten enough. We took great comfort that David died surrounded by friends.
''Twelve weeks after David died, we met with the soldier who shot him. This was probably one of the hardest decisions that we, as parents, had to make, he was able to give us an insight into David’s life in Afghanistan, how close they were, their long talks about family, friends and life back home. On May 31, 2011, he would have celebrated his 21st birthday. David was a loving son and touched the hearts of all who knew him in his short life, he had a beautiful smile, and infectious laugh, a cheeky grin he was outgoing, happy and extremely loyal. This has, and continues to be, a time of utter despair and disbelief at the situation we, our family and friends, find ourselves in. All our hopes and dreams for David have gone, and while we are very proud of what he achieved in his 20 years, we think about what he might have achieved in the future.
"Now there is a pre-David and post-David’s death. He was firstly our beloved son, he was a brother, nephew, uncle, boyfriend and best friend to all who had the privilege to know and love him. Secondly, he was a soldier and we are very proud that he served in such a distinguished Regiment.
"Our lasting memories of David is of him growing up as a child, our baby boy, as a toddler playing mini rugby where he got his nick name 'Diesel'; because he ran around so much, the coach asked had he been 'drinking diesel' and the name stuck. We have a burning dream that he will come home, that he is away on a secret military mission and some day he will walk into his family home again, come home. This is our dream.
"But that dream was shattered when the military told us in August 2012, that at post mortem they kept some of David’s body parts. This was handled diabolically by the military. They did not tell us they had kept parts of David and when it came to bringing the rest of my son home they trailed their feet. It was five months later in December 2012 we were able to have all of David back. When I asked why it had taken from August to December to sort this, we were told, to our utter despair and horror, that it was due to military financial restraints. We have a typed letter of apology.
"Our anger and argument was 'you had the cash to send my son 3,000 miles to fight a war on terrorism but not enough cash to bring him all back home to his family in Northern Ireland, taking body parts without consent or telling my wife and I it had been done, and not sending him back to his family for the sake of a few hundred pounds sterling'. In a heartbeat, I would give all I have, including my own life, to have my baby boy home safely.
"No one who has not lost a child can understand the monumental sense of loss and grief. Words have not been written yet, you could scan the Oxford Dictionary and never find the words to describe our feelings at the loss of David. It has changed us in every aspect of our lives there is nothing anyone can say to ease this daily pain."
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