On the 29th of June 1940, the Perthshire Advertiser reported: 

“FORMERLY WITH ‘G.A.’

“Observer Fergus Campbell, R.A.F., aged 19 years, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Campbell, 52 Queen Street, Craigie, is reported missing. Campbell was formerly employed with the General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation Ltd.”

“Perth Airman Presumed Dead

“Mother Believes He is Still Alive

“Well-known in City Sports Circles

“Although the Air Ministry now fear that he must be presumed to have lost his life by enemy action, the mother of a Perth sergeant-observer in the R.A.F. steadfastly refuses to abandon hope that her son is still alive.

“The mother who holds firmly to this belief is Mrs. Andrew Campbell, now residing at 62 Needless Road, and formerly of 52 Queen Street, Perth. Her missing son, whose twentieth birthday was in August last, is Sergeant-Observer David Fergus Sharpe Campbell. To his many friends he was familiarly known as Fergus Campbell.

“He was reported missing in June on a flight over Norway, and since then no trace of him has been found. In November the records department of the Air Ministry wrote to inform his parents that, though formal action to presume death for official purposes would not be taken until a further period had elapsed, it was feared that all hope of his being alive must be given up. Lately, another letter was written indicating that, if Mr. and Mrs. Campbell had received no information from any other source, their son must be presumed dead.

“Mrs. Campbell, whose husband is at present working in the South, told a ‘P.A.’ reporter yesterday that even if her son is officially entered in the records as having lost his life, she would not give up hope. ‘I have not the slightest doubt but that he is still alive and taken prisoner,’ she said, ‘and I will cherish that belief until the war is over.’

“Sergeant-Observer Campbell, who is Mr. and Mrs. Campbell’s only child, joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in February, 1938, and he had the distinction of being the first to pass his test in the air observer scheme at Perth Aerodrome.

“Educated at Perth Academy and a member of the school Rugby XV, he was employed for nearly two years in the Foreign Department of the General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation at Perth.

“A promising young golfer, he was attached to the Craigie Hill Club, His father, before going South, was well known in Perth railway circles as clerk in the Clearing House.”