Book in man's pocket stops bullet and saves his life.

Rooted Expeditions

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Real picture of the Bible that stopped the bullet.Photo byRooted Expeditions

A pocket Bible saved a WWI soldier from a German bullet.

According to Daily Mail, when 17-year-old Leonard Knight was shot by an enemy soldier, he had the Bible in his uniform chest pocket.

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First World War soldier Leonard Knight.Photo byDaily Mail

The book's thickness stopped the round after it penetrated the hardback front cover.

The bullet stopped 50 pages from the end, sparing Leonard's life.

Aunt Minnie Yates wrote, "To Leonard, with love from Aunt Minnie. July 1915," in the book.

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Aunt Minnie Yates, who wrote a note inside saying: 'To Leonard, with love from Aunt Minnie. July 1915.Photo byDaily Mail

Her grandmother, Sheila Cater, showed the Bible to Claire, the great-great granddaughter of Minnie Yates.

"My granny had been given it, it was passed to her, and now it's been passed on again,' said the 30-year-old Bristol nursing home activities coordinator. along with saying, "She proudly kept it in a biscuit tin on her wardrobe's top shelf. I didn't understand when she pulled it out. I knew it was precious."

The young soldier survived the war, but it is unknown what happened to him after the near-miss or where it occurred.

His Bible, which still has the bullet, has been passed down through five generations of his aunt's family to Paula Ryan, 60, and her daughter Claire.

It probably covered Leonard's heart. The bullet went through about fifty pages of the thick Bible.

Leonard was raised in Wychbold, Worcestershire, in 1898. He disappeared after the war, and wartime service information is scarce.

His aunt's five generations have passed down the Bible.

Leonard lived into his 70s but had PTSD after witnessing the horrors of war.

Claire added: 'He disappeared after the war, so no one knew what happened to him.

"I think my grandmother showed the Bible to the Imperial War Museum once, but she never followed up, and it was hard to keep in touch back then."

After seeing an online request for Princess Mary gift tin boxes for First World War soldiers, Claire offered the Bible.

Leonard's Bible came to mind after seeing a social media video of a tin with a bullet hole in its cover.

Her mother, Paula, has unsuccessfully searched for the family's history to learn more about Leonard and what happened to him during and after the war.

'I've tried to get military records, but lots of MOD records from the First World War were destroyed during the Second World War,' she said.

I found his name in a 1901 census for the Robin Hood Inn in Rashwood, but that's it.

"It's not just dates and names; it's memories and the stories of people's lives and how they are connected to us."

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