The Girls Meet Their Father, Who Is Back From The War

In this tender moment captured on a crisp day in 1940, two young sisters, ribbons in their hair and hand in hand, rush across a grassy lawn to embrace their father—his arms outstretched from a wooden‑framed wheelchair, his uniform still bearing the creases of service. The girls’ matching floral dresses and the soldier’s restrained joy convey both the resilience of family bonds and the bittersweet reality of wartime separations.

Historical Context By 1940, thousands of British servicemen were granted brief home‑leaves between deployments to France, North Africa or the looming theatres of World War II. These reunions—often enacted in public parks or convalescent homes—were a vital morale boost for communities still adjusting to rationing, blackout drills and the ever‑present threat of air raids. The wheelchair suggests the father may have been wounded or weakened by his service, underscoring the sacrifices made on both battlefront and home front.

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