AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT
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| David Frederick Shaw Born: 24 Jun 1918 Chuquicamata, Calama, El Loa, Chile Married: 24 Jun 1941Hebbronville, Texas Died: 4 Mar 1948 Monterrey, Mexico FATHER MOTHER WIFE Kathleen Freeman CHILDREN 1. Kathleen Moore Shaw b. 12 Aug 1942 Laredo, Webb Co., TX 2. Josephine Shaw b. 12 Dec 1944 Laredo, Webb Co., TX |
 David Shaw Royal Air Force |
David Shaw
by Chase Brooke
Nov 2023
David Shaw was born 24 Jun 1918 in Chuquicamata, Chile. (1) Because his
father John was a Canadian citizen David also became a Canadian. He grew up in
Monterrey, Mexico where he attended the American School and later went to high
school at Jefferson High, San Antonio, Texas and then the Schreiner Institute in
Kerrville, Texas. He had wanted to become a doctor, but his father forced him to
go to the Colorado School of Mines. He attended the school until 1940 but
dropped out in his final year due to financial difficulties. He married Bernis K
Freeman in Hebbronville, Texas on June 24, 1941.
Wanting to serve in the war
he enlisted as an Airman second class in the RCAF on December 21, 1942, was
promoted to Leading Aircraftman on June 8, 1943, and by March 14, 1944, he was a
full Aircraft pilot.
He was sent to India on April 13, 1945, as a member of
the 436 the transport squadron. The job of the 436th was to ferry supplies to
Canadian ground troops fighting in Burma. It was hazardous enough just to fly
into Burma and face Japanese fighter planes, but it became doubly so because of
the monsoons. David was in India from April to September and during that period
flew in extremely bad weather. The war ended in September, and he was
repatriated to Canada where he remained until he was honorably discharged in
January of 1946. He had intended to go back to the Colorado School of Mines to
finish his degree but unfortunately, he was not able to cope with the horrors of
the war and developed a severe drinking problem. He died in Monterrey, Mexico in
his early thirties. His widow never
remarried.
Sources
(2) Marriage date recorded in air force records
 Colorado School of Mines Yearbook 1938 |
 Colorado School of Mines Yearbook 1940 |
 Royal Canadian Air Force |
 Kathleen and David Shaw |
 Laredo Times December 30, 1942 |
 The Laredo Times, July 5, 1945 |