Gnr. Fred Wearden
British Army 8th Field Regiment Royal Artillery
from:56 Bay Street, Blackburn
Fred Wearden was an Apprentice Metal Coach Builder before he enlisted on the 17th of Dec 1942 joining 24th Primary Training Corps (PTC) Middleton at Heysham. He transferred to 37th Signal Training Regiment, Royal Artillery at Scarborough on the 27th of January 1943 and remained there until 5th ofJul 1943. Fred was appointed Driver i/c on the 17th of March 1943 and was classified as a Signaller on the 26th of May 1943 Posted to 180th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery on completition of his training, he embarked for India (Draft code REHYA) on the 25th of October 1943 and disembarked at Bombay on the 28th of Nov 1943, Convoy KMF25a, SS Strathmore left Liverpool on 25th of October 1943 sailing via Alexandria, Suez and Aden to arrive Bombay 28th of Nov 943. Fred was posted to 2 Holding Battery (RA) and on the 11th of Dec 1943 was posted to 8th Field Regiment RA in 25th Indian Division. He was admitted to hospital on the 23rd of Feb 1944, returning to his unit 2 days later.
He was posted to HQRA 26th India Division the 14th of Jul 1945 HQRA 26th India Division became part of 34th Corps, which was raised in 1945 for the invasion of Malaya, they were being embarked for Malaya at the time of the Japanese surrender. Two of its divisions however carried out landings in Malaya as was planned, the Corps then moved to the Dutch East-Indies for peace keeping duties after the end of the war. Fred was repatriated to UK via Singapore on Python Date unknown (15 Aug 1946) Note: PYTHON was the name given to the scheme started after VE day that concerned repatriation and accumulated leave of regulars who had been servicing overseas, plus leave entitlement. Back in the UK Fred was posted to depot RA on the 19th of Dec 1946 and was released from the Army on the 12th of Aug 1947.
