The oldest version of the "Heavy Boots" story I can find on the Usenet archives is from a 1993 post. But I remember the original posting, which claimed to be a first-person account, and was older yet.
Indeed, IIRC that account looked very like the first part of this one. This thing is findable a couple of places on the Interwebs, but I strongly suspect/recall its early Usenet origins. If anyone could point me at the original attribution of this classic tale, I would be truly grateful.
[Update, a few minutes later :-) : Sure enough, one Russ Brown claims posting the first part of the story, but not the second, to Usenet around 1989, based on a 1981 experience. See the comments section here. I'll claim five memory points for this one.] (B)