This is the hardest thing I have ever had to write but the first time I have ever been able to express & allow feelings & emotions to flow.
My half brother David was killed on 17th August 1978. A serving soldier in Northern Ireland.
He was not killed through terrorism, violence or jealousy but by a pathetic coward of a hit & run drunk driver who left him to die!! FACT!!
The driver was a military man & had two male passengers also in the military. FACT!!
Through lack of witnesses the driver never procecuted!! FACT
David died when I was three but I was only told snippets of information from the age of eight!! FACT
David treated me as a sister NOT a half sister. FACT!!
The driver died a year after David's death. He became an electrician on leaving the Army & was electrocuted whilst re wiring a house!! FACT
One passenger went on to marry & had a child, when the child was old enough, they were told by this man what happened that fateful night. The child disowned them immediately & to this day has had nothing more to do with them!! FACT
The other passenger went into marry but had no children. This one did not tell any relations about what happened all those years ago untill LAST CHRISTMAS 2017!! His marriage already on the down ward spiral, effectively ended there & then!!. FACT.
Both surviving passengers have had terrible lives so I have been told & as told from the above!! FACT.
If these men had told the TRUTH at the time then forgiveness could have been found at some stage. FACT.
Their behaviour, their actions destroyed, caused unimaginable pain, hurt, hatred, anger!! FACT
David's Mum was never the same again, having lost one son four years before David's death destroyed her & she started living day to day!! FACT
David & I's Dad (same Dad different Mum) was too cowardly to go & find out what happened to David the night he was killed, leaving David's Mum, other family members, myself & friends not knowing the absolute truth. The Army told him he would be safe & looked after but he didn't go!! FACT
At eight years old my Dad left it up to my Mum to tell me about David's death when I found a small Golly that David had (ironically left for me in case he never came back!! FACT (Golly's had become the Glosters emblem) when David said he wanted to leave his for me my Mum told him not to be daft!!.
I vowed when I was old enough I would find out the TRUE FACTS that had happened that tragic night!!
It was only a year before my 40th birthday I finally found the strength to find out what happened that night, something my Dad should have done many years before!! FACT
I found a number of Gloster Vets through more luck than judgement only to ask them of their memories of my beloved brother nothing more!! FACT!!
I am truly thankful & forever grateful for the tremendous support of the ones I have found, you guys know who you are. I know you didn't know David for long but in the short time that you did, I want you to know he would have had your backs no matter what. Yes he was a scamp, a typical 24 year old enjoying life & wanting to serve his country but he was someone's son, someone's brother, someone's friend & was in the wrong place at the wrong time!!
He had swopped nights off with another comrade & friend, that comrade spent years blaming themselves for what happened. (There is no blame here at all & never will be) FACT!!
The comrade & friend with David the night he was killed has gone through the why him & not me for many years, this man was severely traumatized but managed to get back to the barracks & get help!! FACT
( He was in front & heard a bang & found David in a hedge further down the road!! FACT!!
David effectively died on that road there was nothing anyone could have done!!
To those other than myself affected by this there really was nothing anyone could have done, you all did the best you could under the circumstances, there is no ill will or grudges.
I give my sincere apologies to those that my Dad came up to of all things at the funeral, asking what happened to David. If he had had any common sense then he should have realised that you were affected by the loss of your comrade & friend & that he should have gone to Northern Ireland when he had the opportunity rather than make things up from snippets of hearsay!!
I will always fight for justice when it comes to drink/drug drivers as I never want others to suffer as I have through all these years.
These men as good as murdered David. They left him to die!! Whether or not they thought they had hit road kill they still hit something!! A human being in this case MY BROTHER & they should have admitted what they did & then accepted the consequences of their actions!!
They are nothing but PATHETIC COWARDLY VILE SCUM!!
Finally to those trying to jump on the metaphorical band wagon I feel sorry for you, that you thought you knew something different to me. You are nothing but sad pathetic individuals & will be eternally seen for what you are!!
Last but not least I have not given permission for David's photo to be used anywhere other than my page!! I do not want his photo anywhere else, unless I have given permission.