Hero of World War Two Arctic convoys dies aged 99

Edwin Leadbetter was aboard aircraft carrier HMS Fencer in 1944 during daring voyages across the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans to deliver vital supplies as the Allies wrestled occupied Europe from Nazi tyranny.

The Glaswegian, born in Bridgeton, served with Attacker-class carrier Fencer as she protected merchant ships, but also during Operation Tungsten – the air raid that targeted German battleship Tirpitz at her fjord base in northern Norway in November 1944.

Edwin started off on Fencer as an Able Bodied Seaman after joining the Royal Navy aged 17 in 1942. He was eventually promoted to become quartermaster steering the ship during brutal Arctic missions.

Talking about his time on the Arctic Convoys for VE Day 75 in 2020, Edwin said: “I had to be on the bow looking for submarines and aircraft. You couldn’t stand on the decks for the thick ice.”
Fencer’s sailors faced the unremitting task of keeping the flight deck clear of the ice to allow panes to take off and land.

He added: “These were some days. I was just doing my job. You couldn’t afford to get frightened in the job. If you were frightened, you were put off the ship.
“There was no point in keeping people who were frightened.”

During his 11 years’ service, Edwin also served in the Pacific Campaign, including Burma, leaving the navy in 1954. He would have continued serving, but his parents were against it.
Edwin was briefly recalled during the Suez Crisis in 1956 but his ship didn’t deploy and he was stood down.

In the civilian world, he worked as a sheet metal plater’s labourer at Barclay Curle’s yard in Scotstoun on the Clyde, before moving into the building trade and then becoming a long-distance lorry driver.

In 2017, 70 years on from his service in World War Two, Edwin finally received the Arctic Star for his service in the Arctic convoys. 

He originally missed out on the medal because he was one degree too far south – the MOD deciding his ship was not eligible.

But after an appeal he was finally presented with the medal and his veteran’s badge during a ceremony at the Govan shipyard in Glasgow.

Two years’ later in 2019, Edwin was presented with the Norwegian Government’s Commemorative 1939-45 War Medal – in recognition of the bravery shown by him and his comrades during operations in Norway’s fjords. 

The campaign to get him the missing medals came after his daughter’s late husband Robert McKenna – who was a Navy officer – realised his father-in-law should have had more than the four medals he’d been presented with.

Daughter Liz Mckenna – Robert’s widow – was the driving force behind the quest to reunite her father with his medals and, in April 2021, Edwin was handed one of the last missing decorations.

The Consul General of Russia in Edinburgh presented Ushakov Medal – for “personal courage and valour shown during World War Two while participating in the Arctic Convoys” during a ceremony.

Edwin Leadbetter died on 3 June, 2025, aged 99.