One of the younger Filey men to die in the hostilities, Fred had been conscripted a few months previously into the Royal Army Service Corps where he trained as a driver for one of the unit’s legion of troop and supply transports.  On completing his course however, he found that the Service Corps had an abundance of men trained for that purpose so he was seconded to the Royal Army Medical Corps, a unit that at that time was most likely short of drivers for its ambulances moving across France.

          Unfortunately, this was not to be.  As Fred reached the south coast of England he found that there were no troop carriers available at that point to take him to France, so he was to be sent across the channel on an ammunition carrier.  The carrier was targeted by a German vessel and after being hit exploded killing everyone on board.  Fred is remembered on the Brookwood Military Memorial for Service Corps personnel with no known grave.  He had grown up in Filey and was the son of Charles and Annie Halifax, although the family had moved to Gloucester a few years before the start of the war.