William Foot

Bank: National Bank of Scotland

Place of work: Head Office, Edinburgh

Died: 15 December 1942

William Easton Foot was born in 1917, the son of Jean and James Foot. He was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, after which he joined the staff of National Bank of Scotland at its head office in Edinburgh.

Foot joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve before the outbreak of war in 1939, and at the start of hostilities left the bank to go on full-time RAF service. He was based for a time in Gibraltar, where he was part of a squadron of Catalina flying boats operating over the Atlantic. He was later posted to Singapore, and when Singapore fell to the Japanese, managed to escape via Sumatra to Java. Java was also in Japanese hands, but he managed to procure enough petrol to undertake a rescue flight, taking several Dutch women and children to safety in Australia. He was later posted to India and undertook several missions over Burma. 

Pilot Officer Foot was reported missing, and later presumed to have been killed, on 15 December 1942. He was 25 years old. 

William Foot is commemorated on a bank war memorial at Gogarburn campus, Edinburgh.