No. 1 Drilling Company was actually formed in Italy in March 1944 by re-naming No. 1 Tunnelling Company shortly after arriving from England. Major Taylor had been with the unit since its initial formation and took its tunnelling sections to Gibraltar in 1941. In the early days, the company was tasked with building underground bunkers for both British and American HQ locations, an observation post overlooking Cassino for the Royal Air Force, and smaller but necessary tasks during the advance to Rome through the Liri Valley. In June 1944, the company started experimenting with driving pipe piles in support of South African engineers building a Bailey Bridge over the Tiber. Later they moved into Tuscany and help restore waterworks in Siena and Florence.
When the advance to the Metauro River began on 25 August, the unit was busy pipe-piling for bridges on the advance routes; one across the Esino River at Iesi and another across the mouth of the Cesano River just south of the Metauro. The next would be across the Metauro itself.
On September 1st, Major Taylor’s party was making a reconnaissance of in Pesaro, on the Polish front. Pesaro had been reported clear of enemy and the party received no updates when they passed through the Polish troops. While Captain J.M. Thompson, the other member of the party, was turning their jeep around, Taylor and Company Sergeant Major Samuel Dempster were killed in an ambush when they went forward to make a final check of the area. Thompson managed to escape.
Major David Taylor, son of David and Ethel May Taylor and husband of Betty Edith Mary Taylor, is buried in the Ancona War Cemetery.
