David Eggleton - Eulogy 
 1.  In paying tribute to David, this afternoon, I will not try to cover the whole of his life and career because, if I did, we would be here until well after dark.  Rather, I will briefly mention his early life and then look at the time we actually served together in the Royal Air Force and also say a few words about his retirement.  
2.  Affectionately known to many of us as Dave Egg, he was born in Folkestone and, early during World War II, was evacuated to South Wales. There he developed a chest condition which, aggravated by the local weather, forced him to return home after just 3 months.  When he had finished secondary school he was called up to do his National Service in the RAF in the early fifties.  After doing his two years he decided to make the service his career – and what a distinguished one it turned out to be.  If you take his national service and his regular service and put them together with time he spent with Royal Auxiliary Air Force afterwards, it comes to an incredible 38 years.   
3. David’s priorities in life were his family, the RAF and sport.  He was also a man of many qualities – far too many to mention, but not least he was, considerate, loyal, determined and a perfectionist - woe betide anyone who did not match his standards.  He was, above all, a true gentleman and immensely popular – as witnessed by the number of us here today – some having travelled distance to pay their respects.   He also kept himself very fit playing football and he also had a keen, dry sense of humour and was not averse to a bit of gentle leg pulling - I usually got the treatment when Wales had been stuffed by England at Twickenham on a previous Saturday.  But he did it with a twinkle in his eye and he was very gracious when the roles, I am glad to say, were reversed some 12 months later.
4. He was a man for all seasons and at ease in any company whether it was a having a beer with his colleagues at the end of a busy week,  hosting his Station Commander and other senior officers at a formal dinner  in the Sergeant’s Mess or attending a Royal Garden Party, with his wife Brenda, at Buckingham Palace.  
5. I first had the good fortune to meet David in 1964 when I was posted to Singapore, as a very newly qualified Mover.  To explain that term, for those outside the RAF family, movers are responsible for all aspects of loading and unloading RAF transport aircraft, either in the passenger or cargo role or a combination of both.  On this posting David was in charge of processing both inbound and outbound passengers during the busy times of Confrontation with Indonesia.  He treated them all with equal respect be they service, dependents or civilian.  
6. There was, however, a lighter side to his work and he had the most wonderful way of dealing with army colonels at six o’clock in the morning, just as we were all coming to the end of a 12 hour night shift.  If any of the said colonels got to know they were the senior passenger on a particular flight, they would insist on being treated as a VIP.  For his part David would explain to them, very courteously, that VIP status came with the rank of Major General and not below, but he always resisted the temptation to add that they needed two further promotions before they would qualify.  Most would accept his words but, on the odd occasion when his explanation fell on deaf ears, he would play his trump card.  This came in the form of Flying Officer Virginia Latimer –Allen - with a hyphen in the middle.  She was trim of figure, pretty of face with a personality to match. When David needed help he would come into the office and say to her “Ma’am, would you be so kind”.  Virginia knew exactly what she had to do and, putting on her service hat, which took her to a full 5ft 4ins, would glide sylph-like out of the office across to the passenger check in desk and, with one flutter of her eyelashes, greet the colonel with - Good morning Sir – I believe we have a problem?  He, poor chap, would have no answer to that and, at one stroke she would diffuse the situation, with a much chastened colonel quietly retiring to join the rest of the waiting passengers.  The wry smile on David’s face afterwards said it all. 
7. Our next contact was in 1971 at the United Kingdom Mobile Air Movements Squadron here at Abingdon.  David was now a FS, again working with RAF transport aircraft, but, this time, on tasks which took him all over the world – often working in difficult conditions, often against the clock.  Once again, he proved to be resourceful and dedicated and every member of the Squadron was delighted when he was promoted to Warrant Officer.  He thus became the Squadron’s most senior non-commissioned officer and he surpassed himself when the time came for us to pack up our bags and move to Lyneham in 1974.  Much of the smoothness of that transfer was due entirely to his efforts.
8. Our third posting together was sometime later, in 1986, at the RAF Movements School at Brize Norton.  As opposed to earlier operational postings he was now in a training environment and able to use his considerable man management skills in this new role.  Such was his success I cannot recall a single occasion when any member of the School staff, or trainee, had anything but praise for him. 
9. Working with David, however, was not without incident and I remember when we were having a meeting in my office one morning, I realised that he was looking over my shoulder and out of the window behind me.  With that he excused himself, climbed over my desk with some purpose, rather than going around it, opened the window and, from his lofty perch, berated a passing airman for some misdemeanour.  When he was finally done he closed the window and returned to his chair, this time walking around my desk, and muttering something about a top button being undone.  When he had left I went and sat in the chair which had been using and, to this day, I still don’t how he spotted that button.
10. On this tour he also came up with the bright idea that I should be making better use of my lunchtime breaks and he dragged me off the Station swimming pool to swim lengths up and down it – he said it would be good for me!  Now I have done some boring things in my life but nothing compared with this and trying to keep up with Mark Spitz was something else.  We would start off together, in adjacent lanes, and when I had got to the half way mark of my first length he would be there, swimming beside me.  That gave me some confidence, until I realised that he was swimming in the opposite direction half way down the pool on his second length. After many weeks of this drudgery David realised I was not enthralled with this pursuit of physical excellence so he relented - but we still had to go on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – never was happy hour more welcome.  Thankfully relief arrived when the pool closed for repair and, when it re-opened, I kept a low profile well under the radar.  
11. This was the last time we would serve together and working with him over the years had been a very unique experience – a sentiment I am sure that many here today will share.
12. After our respective retirements in 1988, and here I would add that David never forgave me for leaving six months before him, we remained good friends.  Not least, I appreciated his regular phone calls keeping me up to date with news of those we had served with and I also enjoyed his company when it came to attending re-union dinners, as we did in May of last year.  He was so enthusiastic about them. He was also first in line when it came to collecting for Save the Children outside one of our local stores.  He had the singular knack of spotting a donation at 50 paces and, if he was wrong, he would quickly resort to Plan B.  Now we all know how he could chat a bit so with charm itself , he would have shoppers dipping into their pockets and purses before they knew what was happening.  Now there is a very strict rule when it comes to collecting for charity and that is, all donations have to be unsolicited and collected without persuasion!!  David failed on both counts but he always had more money in his bucket than any other. 
13. With his football boots now hung up he maintained his life- long interest in sport by playing cricket for a local village side at Aston Tirrold and golf at Drayton Park – just down the road.  Then, when he finally put away his bat and pads he turned to umpiring and I doubt, very much, if there were many who challenged his decisions.  He remained active on the golf course for many years afterwards and I will always regret that we never actually got to play together.  Over the years we arranged several games but, for one reason or another, we never got to the first tee.  Then, in 2005 he sadly lost Brenda and sometime later he joined the congregation here at St Helen’s, where he was to find new friends, join the choral group and later become a sides-man.  
14. David had a difficult last few years in regards to his health and Howie Bumford and I were able to visit him when he was taken into hospital, with an additional problem, just before Christmas.  As we chatted he would close his eyes and seemingly drop off to sleep; Howie and I would carry on and when he opened them later, he would smile and nod in agreement with what we had been saying.  We realised he had been with us all the time and Howie and I came away very thankful for having seen him.  
15.  During his illness David received many encouraging messages and he really did appreciate them.  His passing was the end of an era - he was an absolute one off and certainly deserved all the plaudits, which have been said about him in recent weeks.  Here, I would like to pay tribute to David’s son Jeff, his daughter-in-law Daniela, and Barbara, his companion, who looked after and cared for him over a long period.  Also to his grandchildren, Morwenna and Jason who supported him from afar in Dubai and North Devon – David was so appreciative of everything they did for him.  
16. Finally, thank you all for being here this afternoon to celebrate David’s life, memories of which will last a long time.

Bryan Morgan
Abingdon, Oxon, UK
February 2015