Similar Story

[horlicks]

My stepbrother had a similar experience. His father married in 1934 and went off to the war leaving behind a wife and son. He never returned after the war and his wife had to go through the divorce courts in 1948 to marry my father in 1950. My stepbrother was left with a stammer for the rest of his life. It turns out he did survive the war and had remarried in 1942 subsequently having 4 other children. It is not known if he divorced my mother before the second marriage. He died in 1971. My stepbrother and I have me up with the other family who were unaware of their father's previous life as he would not talk about it. Unfortunately my stepbrother died in a car accident in 2004.

[ksouthall]

I hate to be picky but who was your stepbrother's mother? If he shared the same mother as you, that actually makes him your half-brother, not your stepbrother.
If he had a different mother to you, then he would be your stepbrother.
Also, is it possible that your brother's father tried to find his family but they had been evacuated or bombed out? In other words, if he believed they were missing or dead, he would have not have realised he was committing bigamy when he married his second wife in 1942.
I don't know where your mother was living during the war, and it must have been terrible not knowing whether or not her husband was alive or dead, but sometimes things do happen that are beyond our control.