Miracle Bible returned after more than a century

A NEW Testament Bible which saved the life of a soldier during World War One was presented to the Bible Society of Australia last week.

The bible was originally given to Ballarat soldier Lance Corporal Philip James Davies in 1916, and 107 years later it has returned to the organisation which gifted him the religion book.

“An ambitious project of the Sunday Schools of New South Wales was to raise £2000, not dollars, pounds, for the purpose of supplying each of our soldiers with a bible to take with them,” said Max White, co-executor of Lance Corporal Davies son, Richard Davies’ will.

“This was a phenomenal aim considering the average earnings in Australia at that time was only eight shillings a day, and they did it.”

In July 1917, Lance Corporal Davies was leading a group of soldiers installing telephone cables at Messines Ridge in Belgium.

On the eve of his 21st birthday, two shells exploded near the group which killed one member and injured three others, including Lance Corporal Davies.

He was taken to London for work on his leg wounds where he removed the Bible from his top left pocket to find a large piece of shrapnel embedded in it.

A surgeon standing near by informed Lance Corporal Davies that the Bible had saved his life, as otherwise the shrapnel would have hit his heart.

“This enabled him to return home to Ballarat, marry his sweetheart, have two sons, and pass on to his oldest son his story of survival,” said Mr White.

“The eldest son lived in Ballarat for 100 years and 19 days.”

After his death in 1972, the bible was passed onto Lance Corporal Davies son, Richard Davies, and upon his death in 2022 it was passed back to the Bible Society of Australia as per Lance Corporal Davies wishes.

“We want to follow the wishes of both the father and the son, and the little soldier’s Bible will be presented back to the Bible Society after a 107-year journey encompassing from Ballarat to Belgium and back,” said Mr White.

“Without it, Richards whole century of living would not have begun.”