Re: Frederick Wakeham

Fred was indeed the only survivor of the Empire Heath. He and his wife Olive produced two daughters, Heather and Elaine. I was married to his daughter Elaine. Fred died in 1986 after having lived a full and happy life. He told me his story a few times and the Empire heath was in fact the second vessel in which he was torpedoed. When the Empire Heath went down, his wife was pregnant at that time with their first daughter Heather, and was told he had perished along with all the other crew. During her pregnancy Olive was told she should put Heather up for adoption, but Olive remained convinced Fred was alive after having seen Fred in a dream. In her dream Fred had long hair and a beard. So she refused to sign the adoption papers. Not long afterwards, and while the war was still on, one of the men in the prisoner of war camp where Fred was interned became ill and was exchanged via the Swiss red Cross and repatriated. He had smuggled out a message from Fred and when he had recovered, he travelled to North Shields and hand delivered it to Olive. It's an amazing story when you consider that during his time in the U Boat and with fresh water being scarce, Fred grew a beard and his hair grew longer too.