back to the United Kingdom, where they stayed until late 1942, anticipating a German invasion. In June 1942, the 11th Brigade, of whom the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers were a part, was transferred to the newly created 78th Infantry Division. They then served in the final stages of the North African Campaign, the Tunisian Campaign, where the 78th Battleaxe Division gained an excellent reputation, Medjez El Bab, Sicily, and the Italian Campaign (as part of the Gothic Line). During the fighting in Italy, Fusilier Frank Jefferson was awarded the Victoria Cross. A former member of the battalion, Wallace Jackson, died on Thursday, 12 November 2009 aged 89 years. Territorial Army battalions The 1/5th Battalion was a 1st-Line Territorial Army (TA) unit serving in the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division with the 1/6th and 1/8th battalions in the 125th Infantry brigade. They were sent to France in April 1940 to join the rest of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and fought in the Battle of Dunkirk and were evacuated to Britain. In 1941, the battalion was converted to armour as the 108th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Lancashire Fusiliers). Units converted in this way continued to wear their infantry cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps. The 1/6th Battalion served alongside the 1/5th Battalion in France in April–June 1940 and were driven back to Dunkirk. In 1941, this 1st-Line TA Battalion was converted, like the 1/5th Battalion, to armour as 109th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. In 1936, the 7th Battalion was converted into 39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers, based in Salford. After mobilising in August 1939 to defend potential targets such as the Manchester Ship Canal and Barton Power Station during the Phoney War, it served in the Orkney Islands, guarding the Scapa Flow naval base. It returned to Lancashire in early 1941 to defend Liverpool during the May Blitz. In the summer of 1940, while serving in 53 Anti-Aircraft Brigade, covering the North Midlands, it was transferred as a Searchlight Regiment to the Royal Artillery (the day of the actual transfer, 1 August (Minden Day), was considered auspicious by the battalion). In May 1943, the regiment was reduced to a cadre under its old title of 7th Bn LF and took no further part in the war, but several of its batteries continued an independent existence, continuing to wear the Lancashire Fusiliers badge and to