The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Relative traces Dundee roots of man who survived against odds
PEOPLE: Youth who emigrated to America went on to captain ships which were sunk in both world wars
He was a Dundee youth who emigrated to America in pursuit of a naval career, and would become engulfed in two global conflicts and cheat death three times.
David Melville Nicoll was one of just a handful of naval captains whose ships were sunk in the First and Second World Wars.
Captured by the Japanese he was ordered to dig his own grave but, just hours away from his execution, he was freed by allied troops in what would become known as the most daring prison camp raid of the Second World War.
His granddaughter Barbara Bross has made an emotional visit to David’s childhood home in Castle Street, 135 years after he was born there.
Mrs Bross and husband Tim issued an appeal to track down any surviving relatives through The Courier in April.
Despite receiving a letter wishing good luck in her quest, the trail went cold until Kirriemuir resident Cathy Austin stepped in and traced surviving relatives in Glasgow.
Mr Nicoll left Dundee for America at around 18 years old and joined the navy.
Rising to the rank of captain, he fell in love with Coalany Everingham while docked at Sydney, Australia, and they married in a ceremony on his ship Suruga.
During the First World War his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Italy.
In the Second World War his tanker Gertrude Kellog was bombed and destroyed in Manila Bay by the Japanese three days after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Badly wounded, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese and endured sadistic treatment at the hands of his captors.
Ordered to dig his own grave, he was just hours from execution when he was one of more than 2,000 inmates freed in an operation described by American General Colin Powell as “the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies”.
After the war Mr Nicoll, who Mrs Bross remembers vividly as a loving and generous man, returned home and sold war bonds.
He died in 1955, aged 70, in Atlanta. Mr and Mrs Bross have spoken about the warm welcome extended to them by Dundee residents. Mrs Bross said: “The whole experience has been incredibly emotional, and people have been really welcoming.
“We have visited properties in Dundee and Broughty Ferry that my grandfather lived in before he left for America.
“It’s been an amazing experience. Dundee is a beautiful city.”