He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385, in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944 (in concert with the destroyer HMS Swift).

He remarried, to Susan Stanton, whom he met in 1974 on his United States visit to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture at the University of Washington.

Notably, he wrote the biography of Keith Truscott, an Australian fighter ace who served in England in the last stages of the Battle of Britain and the aftermath, and later in Darwin and at Milne Bay.

Later he published a version of this history as They Shall Not Pass Unseen and much later returned to his experiences of combat in Sunderlands in books for younger readers.

Southall later published a version of this story for younger readers under the title Seventeen Seconds — the time available to run in case the fuse of the mine was accidentally triggered while trying to disarm it.

From 1950 to 1962, Southall also wrote, for younger readers, adventure stories about a fictional brave pilot, 'Simon Black' — an Australian counterpart to W.E.

[8] Ivan Southall won the 1971 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising Josh as the year's best children's book by a British subject.

[9][a] Ash Road, To the Wild Sky, Bread and Honey and the nonfiction Fly West were all named CBCA Australian Children's Book of the Year (1966 to 1976).

[12] The Sly Old Wardrobe, written by Southall and illustrated by Ted Greenwood, was named Children's Picture Book of the Year in 1969.