Malcolm Britton remembers his father wearing his old leather and felt boots as they trudged through the heavy snow together when he was a little boy.
It was too deep for Malcolm but his dad Jack had suffered much worse in those very same boots as a Prisoner of War for five long years from 1940 to 1945.
John William Britton, always known as Jack Britton, was captured by the Nazis at the start of World War II in Norway. Later in those sturdy boots he was forced to march for miles across Germany and parts of Poland.
For this reason Malcolm, who lives in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, appears on tonight’s episode of BBC One’s The Repair Shop asking the expers to mend the German-made boots which were given to his dad some time during his captivity, and kept him striding forward amidst unimaginable adversity.
Malcolm explains what the footwear means to him: “It’s not only memories of the war but memories of my childhood as well and honouring what he’d gone through.”
Malcolm, 77 and a former lecturer at an agricultural college, is brought to tears in the Repair Shop barn as he reveals to cobbler Dean Westmoreland and host Jay Blades some of the journeys his father had to struggle through while wearing the thick boots.
Reading an extract written from a small daily diary his father kept, Malcolm says, “The Germans put us 7,000 men to march by night towards south Germany. Marching by night, sleeping by day outside or in barns. Through exposure hands, lips, face badly chapped. I had dysentery most of the way same as ninety percent of the others.”
Another extract from the precious diary reads: “Being without grub and cigs, weight dropped from 80 kilograms to 65 kilograms. Everyone walking skeletons. What a nightmare. Sole topic is grub. Never expected after five years in prison to again experience such a terrible time. Weather and winter have been particularly savage, and my toes are still frozen after five months.”
To Malcolm the boots embody the resilience of his father, who barely spoke about his wartime experience where he suffered long periods of starvation and horrific conditions. ”When I was about two years old he was in and out of hospital. I went to visit him in hospital with my mum and remember him saying he was ‘proper poorly.’ I’ll always remember that expression. He rarely spoke about the war which I think is common for most people who’ve been through it.”
Shoe expert Dean restores the boots to their former glory by filling the moth holes, restitching the heel, and repairing their soles. Upon seeing the finished product a delighted Malcolm says: “They are so important to me, the boots, because they are a tangible reminder of dad who died many years ago now, but also remembering what he went through in the war. By association we can not forget what went on before.”
Aside from being kept out of the way of the moths from here on out, the boots are now being enjoyed by Jack’s six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
“Whenever any of his grandchildren or great grandchildren turn up here, they try them on and take photographs in the boots. They go through the diary and the stories and things like that so they have got a greater understanding of their heritage.”
* The Repair Shop, BBC1 tonight (APR 12), BBC1, 8pm.
