Trooper Gordon Fennell’s mother sent dress shoes from Canada for his wedding to his British fiancée, Joyce. Gordon stored the shoes in his Sherman tank for safekeeping.
On 4 October 1943, Gordon’s tank was blown up in Italy. He escaped with minor injuries, thanks in part to the shoes, which caught some of the shrapnel and splinters that might otherwise have killed him.
When Gordon and Joyce married in May 1945, he did not wear the battle-damaged shoes. But he kept them for more than 70 years.
