Not totally sure of the military facts, but here we go.
At the end of World War Two, all American personnel at Burtonwood US base near Warrington Cheshire were informed that they could leave on military aircraft almost immediately. Which meant some soldiers leaving behind, girlfriends, cars, and simple items such as food in the fridge, etc. Robert Bailey seized on the offer, and flew via 3 stops to his US hometown of Griffin, Georgia. 22 years later on a vacation in England with his wife and 3 children he made the journey to Burtonwood to show his family where he was stationed, and took great delight in taking them into the local town where he identified that the grocery store was once a cinema, the doctors office was once a cafe, and the betting shop was now a car parts store. To his amazement he saw across the street the old shoe shop still standing, and he remembered, that purely as a souvenir, he had kept the stub from a pair of shoes that he had failed to collect when flying out years earlier. For some innocent mischief he walked into the store and without saying a word, presented the shoe repair stub to the 2 elderly gentleman employees in brown overalls, who then, together, proceeded to the rear of the store, muttering to themselves. After a few minutes they walked back to this US overseas visitor, handed him back the shoe repair stub, and said. “ They'll be ready on Thursday “
