By May there was a greater threat from the Axis forces in Egypt so Eric and the Kent Yeomanry were sent there, via Palestine and the pyramids at Cairo. On 6th June after 10 days and some 1600 miles they occupied defensive positions on two small hills near Tobruk, just across the border in Libya. The sound of enemy guns could already be heard. Several days of heavy fighting soon followed and with their positions over-run Eric and his colleagues became Italian prisoners of war at camp 154.
It was from here that Eric sent postcards home, the last on 26th Oct 1942 (pictured) . At Tripoli, Eric along with 814 other Commonwealth POWs boarded the Italian cargo vessel S.S. Scillin en-route to Sicily.
On the night of 13th November, they headed straight into the Sicily Invasion area and a line of protective submarines. It carried no flag or marker to indicate it was carrying Prisoners of War. The SS Scillin was spotted by a British submarine, HMS Sahib, which surfaced and ordered it to stop. When it did not do so the submarine fired a single torpedo and the SS Scillin sank within a minute. Only 26 men survived. Letters to his wife Ruth followed from the Officer-in-Charge, Royal Artillery Records and on 27th August 1943 one read: "A further report has been received from a reliable source to the effect that your husband was believed to have been on an Italian ship transporting Prisoners of War from North Africa to Italy when the vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean. It is regretted that there is no alternative but to revert him to the "Missing at Sea" category until definite news is received."

A further account from Jan Lettens on www.wrecksite.eu on 11-11-2020:
On November 13th, 1942, at Tripoli, 814 Allied POWs were ordered into the Italian SCILLIN's cargo hold, which was only suitable for around 300. The result was severe overcrowding and insanitary conditions. More prisoners would have been loaded, but the British military doctor (Capt. Gilbert, RAMC) made vehement and repeated protests. Some reports state that a further 195 POWs were disembarked before SCILLIN sailed and that there were some 200 Italian troops on board; others dispute these points saying that the only Italian troops on board were guards and gun crews and the surplus POWs were never actually boarded. On the night of 14 November off the Tunisian coast SCILLIN was ordered to stop with gunfire by the British submarine HMS SAHIB. She did not respond, so her Captain decided to torpedo SCILLIN. Those in the hold had little chance of survival as the torpedo had hit the hold itself and the ship sank rapidly. SAHIB was able to rescue 27 POWs (26 British and one South African), the SCILLIN's captain and 45 Italian crew members, before the arrival of an Italian warship forced her to leave. Only when survivors were heard speaking English, did SAHIB's captain realize that the SCILLIN was carrying POWs.
The Ministry of Defence kept this incident a closely guarded secret for fifty-four years, telling relatives that the victims had died while prisoner-of-war in Italian camps or lost at sea. It was not until 1996, after repeated requests for information from the families of the drowned men that the truth came out. Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?31791

Ann can remember her mum reading a letter and crying. In the following January, Ruth received the official notification of Eric's death.
He is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt, on a CWGC figures show 46 of his unit dying that day.