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Marriage......then off to war

Stuart Pike
10/ 1/2008

A DEVOTED couple from Moston have wed, despite knowing their honeymoon would be cut dramatically short by war just two days later.

Lance Corporal Gavin Geraghty, of the Yorkshire Regiment, has been serving with the British Army in Afghanistan for three months, but returned on leave just in time to exchange vows with sweetheart Sara Drummond-Welsh, of Amos Street.

Just over 48 hours later, on Monday, he had to leave his new wife behind and rejoin the troops.

The couple, who have been together for four years and have a young son Ryan, vowed to marry at the earliest opportunity because of the uncertain fate facing soldiers fighting the Taliban in Musa Qala, in southern Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province.

They were married on Friday at Manchester Register Office, with the groom in full military uniform joined by best man Anthony Smith, also a serving soldier. Gavin, a soldier for six-and-a-half years, is due to return the favour at Anthony's wedding in May.

In the evening, they entertained over 100 guests at a reception held at the Embassy Club in Harpurhey.

Gavin, 24, explained that the death of a sergeant colleague - who had only just got engaged to be married - in an horrific roadside bomb incident, made him even more desperate to tie the knot.

He said: "I've not told people out there that I'm getting married because it might be jinxed. You can drive along not knowing if there's going to be a roadside bomb. Even kids coming up to you could be strapped to a remote.

"There's been a lot of sticky situations, you wake up every morning and think 'what the hell is going to happen today?'"

Gavin is due to rejoin his new bride from the spring when he will be billeted back in the UK, with a proper honeymoon in Paris and a visit to Disneyland on the cards in May. In the meantime they will have to settle for corresponding via daily emails and the services' mail system Ebluey.

Sara, 28, said: "It was a perfect day. We did it because of what was going on out there - obviously we didn't know if he was going to be coming back. Gavin was very emotional in the car on the way back. He's been on a few tours since we've been together and I write to him every day."