David Reynolds Mitchell


David Reynolds Mitchell DSO DSC was a Royal Navy officer who commanded several ships before being killed late in World War II.

Military career

Born the youngest son of Admiral Francis Mitchell, brother of Major General Francis Mitchell and a cousin of both the Very Reverend Patrick Reynolds Mitchell KCVO and Major Douglas Reynolds VC, Mitchell began his career as a cadet on September 1, 1928, and attained his final rank of Lt. Commander in 1942. He was killed in the service of his country one week before VE Day - the end of World War II.
On 19 February 1943, Mitchell was serving as commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Isis when it sank the German submarine U-562 in the Mediterranean north-east of Benghazi. Mitchell was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, "For leadership, daring and devotion to duty in action with enemy submarines in the Mediterranean, while serving ".

Family

In 1935 he married Heather Lenore Kent of Australia.