Family stories - Love in a Prisoner of War camp

Having been gassed, shot and held as a German Prisoner of War, the last thing Irish soldier Joseph Heapes expected to find was love.

Born in 1887, Heapes had already served in India and Burmawith the Royal Irish Rifles between 1906 and 1913. But when war broke out in 1914, he was recalled by the army and sent to the continent where he was injured, captured and held at the Limburg Camp.

It was while he was there; sending letters to his sister Theresa - a housemaid in Killiney, Dublin- that Heapes’ fortunes changed. She encouraged her co-workers to write to the men in captivity to keep their spirits up - and one of the women to answer the call was Mary Fearon, a cook from Dundalk.

She wrote to Heapes and the couple quickly became pen pals. Many letters and photos followed until Heapes finally returned home to Ireland in 1919.

Heapes’ daughter-in-law Máire Uí Éafa - who contributed official letters, a passport and medals to the Dublin roadshow - said Mary obviously liked what she saw because the couple were married in 1921 and went on to have one son and two daughters.