First World War Bible bears bullet holes from German machine guns

Private Leslie Friston, who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, was blinded and left with respiratory problems following a gas attack in 1917.

As he lay recovering in hospital, a German aircraft passed overhead and machine-gunned the makeshift building’s tin roof.

Two of the bullets struck Pte Friston’s soldier’s bible, which was next to him on a bedside table.

Pte Friston, from Surbiton, Surrey, survived the war and brought the bible home to his family.

He kept it close to him until his death in 1958, when his possessions were passed to his daughter Ena Thompson, now 87.

“He said the bible saved his life as it took the brunt of the attack,” Mrs Thompson, from Bournemouth, Dorset, said.

“If the bullets had landed just a few inches further towards him, he would not have survived – and I wouldn’t be here today.

“He was incredibly lucky and I think he knew this as he kept the bible with him for the rest of his life.

“I used to ask him ‘would you tell me about the war…?’ and he would say ‘no, I don’t want to talk about it’.”

Mrs Thompson paid tribute to the First World War generation as part of the Royal British Legion’s 2018 Poppy Appeal, which was launched last week.

Pte Friston signed up to fight in the First World War at the age of 21 and served with the 3/3rd Home Counties Field Ambulance unit in France and Belgium during the war years. His service number was…