Pocket Bible which saved the life of a First World War soldier by blocking a German bullet uncovered
Leonard Knight was just 17 years old when he had a miraculous escape thanks to gift from aunt
A POCKET Bible that saved the life of a First World War soldier by taking the impact of a German bullet has come to light.
Leonard Knight was just 17 years-old when he enlisted to fight and his aunt Minnie Yates gave him what was to be the life-saving little book.
She wrote "To Leonard, with love from Aunt Minnie. July 1915" inside it and the Bible saved his life.
It is thought that Leonard was carrying the book in the breast pocket of his uniform when the German bullet struck.
The round penetrated the hardback front cover but was stopped by the thickness of the Bible.
Incredibly it was halted around 50 pages from the end of the book - and Leonard escaped without a scratch.
It is not known what happened to the young soldier after the near-miss although he is believed to have survived the war.
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His descendants know he was born in 1898 and grew up in Wychbold, Worcs. but he disappeared after the conflict and information about wartime service is scarce.
However, his Bible has been passed down through five generations of his aunt's family and is now in the hands of Paula Ryan, 60, and her daughter Claire.
Claire is the great-great granddaughter of Minnie Yates and first learned of the Bible when her 'Grannie', Sheila Cater, brought it out to show the family.
Claire, 30, an activities coordinator at a nursing home in Bristol, said: "My Grannie had been given it, it was passed to her and now it's been passed on again.
"She was so proud of it and kept it in a special biscuit tin on the top shelf of her wardrobe.
"She used to get it out every now when I was little but I didn't quite understand. I just knew that it was really precious.
"I imagine it would have been covering Leonard's heart.
"The bullet gone quite far through - there's probably about fifty pages before the end of the book, and it's quite a thick bible."
It is believed that Leonard lived into his seventies but suffered with PTSD after seeing the horrors of the war.
She added: "He disappeared after the war so no one knew what happened to him.
"I think my Grannie showed the bible to the Imperial War Museum once but she never followed it up and it was hard to keep in touch back then."
Claire came forward after spotting an online appeal to find Princess Mary gift tin boxes given to soldiers during the First World War.
She saw a video of one of the tins with a bullet hole through its cover on social media and Leonard's Bible sprang to mind.
Claire's mother, Paula, has tried to track down the family's history to learn more about Leonard and what happened to him during and after the war, but to no avail.
She said: "I've tried to get hold of the military records but lots of the MOD records from the First World War were destroyed during the Second World War.
"I managed to trace his name to a pub called the Robin Hood Inn in Rashwood from a 1901 census but that's it.
"It's not just about dates and names it's about memories and the stories of people's lives and how they are connected to us."
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