My father-in-law, Gus Heffernan, who has died aged 96, worked for nearly 40 years for the John Lewis Partnership at the Cole Brothers department store in Sheffield. He had previously endured a gruelling second world war – although the conflict did little to dislodge his gentleness, kindness and sense of humour.
He was born in County Tipperary, when Ireland was still part of the UK. His father, Michael, was a policeman in the Royal Irish Constabulary; by 1919, the IRA was in a bitter war of independence against the crown, and RIC officers were prime targets. The British government offered them asylum, and Michael resettled in Sheffield to work in the steel industry. In 1922 he was joined by his wife, Elizabeth (nee Duggan), and their five children, including three-year-old Gus. Another child, Michael, arrived after they had moved into their council house in Firth Park.
Gus became an altar boy at St Patrick’s church in the city and attended De La Salle college. When the second world war broke out in 1939, Gus was among the first wave of men to be called up. He trained with the Royal Corps of Signals and was then assigned to the 22nd Armoured Brigade. In early 1940, he was posted to the North African desert to fight Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
He was taken prisoner in June 1942 when the allies were defeated at the battle of Knightsbridge. After gruelling forced marches and terrifying journeys by boat and train, he wound up in a prisoner-of-war camp in northern Italy. When Italy surrendered in 1943, he was transported by the Germans to a camp in northern Austria, where he worked as forced labour in the mountains.
Gus rarely talked about the horrifying things he experienced during these years, including seeing the Nazi concentration camp at Ebensee, but he hated the glorification of war by politicians and in films and on television.
The one memory he did often share was of his faithful old horse, Hershal, which helped him drag timber up and down the mountain and often shared his frostbitten turnips when rations were scarce. The camp was liberated in April 1945 by General Patton’s army and Gus returned home to his family in Sheffield and to work at Cole Brothers.
At the age of 39 he persuaded Sally (nee Armfield), whom he had met at Cole Brothers, to marry him, and they spent nearly 60 happy, loving years together. Sally’s care for him in his final years was inspirational.
She survives him, along with their son, Nick, and grandson, Sam.
