Leo Oliver Wakelin

Leo Oliver Wakelin. Killed on this day 17th August 1942 aged 24 while serving with the New Zealand Infantry Brigade during World War 2. Fifth son of Walter Wakelin and May Zealandia Constance Wakelin (nee Moody) of Whau Valley, Whangarei. Born at the Whau Valley and attended Whau Valley Primary School and Whangarei High School. Entered his father's stock auctioneering business where he worked on the clerical side. Upon his father's death in 1941, he became a director of the firm. An enthusiastic follower of athletic sport, he was also a talented musician, especially on the piano and accordion. He left NZ with the reinforcements for the Middle East and was in the historic trek from Syria to El Alamein, where he was posted missing and later a prisoner of war. He lost his life when the Italian ship Nino Bixio, which was transporting Allied prisoners in the Mediterranean Sea between Benghazi (Libya) and Sicily, was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Turbulent.