A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties

Three: Marine S. Wakefield, Royal Marines, killed in action when the S.S. Ceramic, bound for Australia, was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-515 in the Atlantic Ocean, 6 December 1942; of the 656 servicemen, nurses, and civilians on board there was only one survivor

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr W Wakefield, 31 Manchester Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 5NS’, slightly later issues, extremely fine (3) £80-120

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties.

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Sydney Wakefield served as a D.E.M.S. Gunner with the Royal Marines during the Second World War, and was killed in action when the S.S. Ceramic, an 18,400-ton ocean liner bound for Australia, was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-515 under the command of Werner Henke in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Azores, on 6 December 1942. The Ceramic had on board 196 naval and military personnel, nurses of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, and 152 fare paying passengers, including 12 children. Without warning she was hit by three torpedoes fired from U-515. Crippled but still afloat, she launched eight lifeboats, all full. About three hours later, U-515 fired two more torpedoes, which broke the ship’s back and sank her immediately. Sea conditions had become very stormy, and the lifeboats began to capsize. Despite the storm, which was severe enough to be a hazard to the U-boat, Henke returned to the location of the sinking to look for the captain, in the hopes of finding out the Ceramic’s intended destination. However, Henke only stayed long enough to pull one survivor from the water, Sapper Eric Munday, Royal Engineers. Eventually sent to Stalag VIII-B in Upper Silesia, it was not until he was liberated at the end of the War that details regarding the loss of the Ceramic were known by the Admiralty.

Wakefield, aged 20, was one of 14 D.E.M.S. Gunners aboard the Ceramic, returning with his colleagues to the Tana Naval Base in Mombasa, and was one of a total of 655 men, women, and children who were killed in the sinking. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.