231665 Gnr. Edward Stead British Army 39th Light Artillery Regiment Royal Artillery from:Pittington, Durham My father, Ned Stead, served with the Royal Artillery as a gunner with the 39th Light Artillery throughout the North Africa campaign until 1943 when he was told he was being shipped out for the invasion of Italy.
The ship he boarded was the transport ship Fort Babine and on the 6th of February 1945 it was attacked by German torpedo bombers and hit. The ship listed over and the order was given to abandon ship but, my father and the rest of his gun crew, stayed onboard during the attack and decided to man the anti aircraft gun returning fire at the attacking planes until it was to dangerous. So he had to go over the side with his mates. They spent quite some time in the water before being picked up by a corvette escort. But, during the time he was in the water he ingested quite a lot of oil that had leaked from the ship consequently he was sent home to recover during which time the 39th Light Artillery was disbanded. So when he returned to active service he was transferred to the Royal Engineers and was in Northern Italy until the war ended.
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