D-Day hero who drove Montgomery and Eisenhower was killed by mystery mugger who beat him up on his doorstep for just £40
Geoffrey Bacon, 90 brutally assaulted returning from a shopping trip
A WORLD WAR TWO hero who drove Montgomery and Eisenhower was killed by a mystery mugger who beat him up on his doorstep for just £40.
Geoffrey Bacon, 90, was with left a smashed hip in the brutal assault following a shopping trip - dying 11 weeks later.
At his inquest today, almost seven years after his death, coroner Dr Philip Barlow recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing.
Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Nathan Eason told the court that the investigation was "complete" despite the war veteran's attacker never being brought to justice.
Courageous Geoffrey chauffeured Field Marshall Montgomery during the D-Day landings and also put in shifts behind the wheel for Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and later US President.
During the war Geoffrey joined the Royal Engineers as a mechanic and became a respected driver in the Royal Artillery.
In France he chauffeured Dwight Eisenhower as well as Monty and was described by senior officers as a first class reliable driver.
RELATED STORIES
In April 2010 retired postman Geoffrey was attacked from behind as he returned from shopping trip to his flat in Camberwell, south London.
He was thrown to the floor, shattering his hip and punched in the face before the robber ransacked his second-floor flat.
He died 11 weeks later after collapsing in his care home in Ramsgate, Kent, on 5 August 2010.
At Southwark Coroner's Court Assistant coroner Dr Philip Barlow said: "The lack of mobility he had was a result of the assault and the fracture of the left hip left him with deep vein thrombosis in the left leg.
"It went through the blood stream and caused a pulmonary embolism. That was the cause of death."
Geoffrey joined the Territorial Army in 1937, and was called up to the regular Army after the war started two years later.
His family said that he reluctantly told them he volunteered for the top-secret Special Operations Executive but would never give them details of what he did.
After leaving the Army in 1946 he worked first as a mechanic then for the Post Office and in a jeweller's before retiring aged 69.
In later years he was a keen amateur artist, and he and Edith received a telegram from the Queen on their 60th anniversary in 2003.
Edith died in 2005 and a plaque was put on a memorial bench not far from Mr Bacon's flat.
Speaking at the time of his death in 2010, his son Philip said: "The mugger is a complete coward who decided picking on a 91-year-old frail old man was easy.
'If we were in the 1940s now he wouldn't have tried it on with my Dad. My Dad would have ripped his head off. He was a very tough and fit soldier."
He added: "He was a very sociable man, he talked to everybody, he was friends with everybody and he helped everybody.
"The robber didn't have to do this to my Dad, didn't have to end his life, because that is what he did."
Police believe his mugger, a light-skinned black man in his 30s, attacked another woman on the same estate just half an hour later.
He hit the disabled woman of 66 about the head with her handbag before running off with it.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368