The Repair Shop fans in tears as veteran shares 'devastating' story behind broken clock

fans were left in tears during Wednesday's VE Day special, in which viewers met veterans including 101 year old Royal Navy veteran John Holloway.

John, who served as a 17 year old engineer on the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, brought in a unique clock he wanted repaired. The timepiece was one of the cockpit clocks that US pilots used during their missions.

But it held immense sentimental value for John. He told that he gave it to his late wife Connie, affectionately known as Con, as a gift in 1947.

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"She always kept that clock on her bedside table," he said. "They (the numbers) used to glow. Six years ago I moved from Devon and in the removal it all got broken. It was obviously in a cardboard box and fell out of the cardboard box. This all got smashed up, pretty devastated I was."

John shared with the experts that Con passed away ten years ago and he always says 'goodnight Con, I love you', which is why he was so keen to have the clock fixed as it reminded him of her, reports .

However, when Steve began working on the item, it became clear he needed assistance from his son. He told Fred he needed some 'young eyes' to help restore the balance staff. Upon inspecting the item, Fred realised he needed to create a new staff as he informed viewers the original ones are too weak.

Despite the piece he was crafting being extremely small, he admitted: "It's so difficult to get it right without anything going wrong." Fred, while crafting a new staff on The Repair Shop, remarked: "Every time I turn a little bit off, I've got to measure it and make sure I've not gone too far." Despite the setback, the favourite persevered, ensuring the size was just right.

Reflecting on the challenge, he shared: "Now I can breathe! So, after six attempts and quite a lot of hours I've finally finished turning it. That was pretty tough!".

His determination eventually paid off, and he proudly presented the components to his father Steve for the final touches. When John laid eyes on his restored clock, the moment was charged with emotion. Overwhelmed by the sight of the working clock, John exclaimed: "It's going! That's brilliant, that's great. You're going to have to-".

As John removed his glasses to dab at his tears, Will Kirk, the expert, encouraged him to take his time. John expressed his gratitude, saying: "That's going to remind me of Con, all the time. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman."

Fans were also left in tears following John's story, as one took to X, formerly known as Twitter to write: "I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying….. ," as another said: "I'm no crying, you're crying, shut up right!! ."

"What a beautiful clock," said another, alongside a crying emoji, as a fourth penned: "I'm already welling up here ".

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