A Ruined Homecoming - William Hellyer Geake and, wife, Phyllis

William (Bill) Hellyer Geake enlisted into the Royal Marines at Eastney Barracks near Portsmouth on 1st January 1941. His army number was POX102216 (T) and, for the next four years, he served as a driver/mechanic in Egypt, Palestine, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Belgium.

In April 1941, Bill wrote home to his parents and siblings from Durban in South Africa when his ship was en route to Egypt. His wife, Phyllis, had been expecting their second child and he was hoping it would be a boy as they already had a daughter. Unknown to Bill, Phyllis had already given birth to a second daughter about a month before the letter was written.

After being away for four years, it was fairly early in the morning when Bill finally arrived home. Unfortunately, his arrival coincided with that of the postman (or it might have been the milkman). The postman knew Bill and proceeded to ask him all about his time away in the war and stood at the doorstep chatting for 5 or 10 minutes. How insensitive! All the while, Phyllis was waiting to greet the husband she hadn't seen for such a long time. In addition to this, he'd never even met his 4 year old daughter before, who was more than a little coy at the sight of this strange man in their house! Phyllis later said the postman ruined their reunion.