Themes
David Prosser
Atlantic Star
Awarded to the naval war correspondent David Prosser.
Prosser was born in February 1917 and studied at the Imperial College of Science and Technology at London University. He considered joining the Royal Navy originally as he was keen to travel, but became a trainee newsreel man with British Movietone News Ltd in September 1937 instead.
Prosser worked as a newsreel cameraman for Movietone during World War Two, becoming a war correspondent. The Navy recruited Prosser as a news correspondent for a six month filming operation in August 1940.
Prosser spent the remainder of the war travelling to various locations in the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean, working as a correspondent with both the Navy and Royal Air Force.
His job allowed him to accompany aircraft on anti-submarine patrols over the straits of Gibraltar and out into the Atlantic, as well as sail with convoys at Malta.
Prosser became qualified not only as a war correspondent and air correspondent, but also as an RAF air gunner.
Prosser suffered an injury in a fall from an aircraft and invalided out of service in 1944. He then returned to working as a newsreel man at Movietone towards the end of the war.
