Private Duncan MacFarlane might have been shot in the chest if not for his service Bible. (Dunscore Heritage Centre via SWNS)
By Elizabeth Hunter
A "family secret" Bible that saved a hero World War I soldier from a bullet to the heart is set to be displayed to the public for the first time.
Private Duncan MacFarlane, 27, was seriously wounded in 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, and spent six months registered as "missing in action," before his wife tracked him to a military hospital in Edinburgh.
He had suffered multiple bayonet and gunfire wounds — but one bullet, aimed at his chest, was stopped by the thick spine of his service Bible tucked into his breast pocket.
The Bible, alongside his dog tags and discharge certificate, are in the possession of his granddaughter, Jo Abbott, who believes now is the time to tell his story.
She said: "I inherited these things way back in the '70s.
"It was something that was never talked about — we just regarded it as a family thing.
Private Duncan MacFarlane's Bible with the hole created by a bullet. (Dunscore Heritage Centre via SWNS)
"I've been thinking about what to do with it, and this really was the story of an ordinary man who did his bit, and his life was completely blighted by it."
Duncan MacFarlane was born in 1890 in Argyll, becoming a postman in Glasgow in his early 20s before enlisting in the military.
He was enlisted in the army in 1915, at age 25, where he served with 5th Argyll, before transferring to the 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders.
On Oct. 18, 1917, after spending months in the trenches, Pvt. MacFarlane became one of around 500,000 men to be seriously wounded in the battles now known as Passchendaele.
When Jo's grandmother eventually tracked him down to a military hospital in Edinburgh, she "struggled to recognize him" due to the extent of his injuries.
"I can remember as a child, seeing the bayonet scars on his face and neck," said Jo.
"There was an arc of bullet scars going from his hip, round and down his left arm.
"The bullet that would have killed him actually hit the spine of his service Bible, which was in his breast pocket.
"He was very seriously wounded.
Private Duncan MacFarlane was a survivor of World War I. (Dunscore Heritage Centre via SWNS)
"There is no trace of him after being injured, other than my grandmother some five or six months later, going around the hospitals and finding him.
"She only recognized him by his eyes, because his head was all bandaged, as was the rest of his body."
After being discharged, Pvt. MacFarlane went back to work in the Post Office, but the physical and mental scars stuck with him.
Jo believes he likely suffered from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, as he experienced nightmares and flashbacks.
At 50, Pvt. MacFarlane suffered a series of strokes that affected his movement and speech and died in 1962 at age 72.
"As a wee girl, I can remember him having terribly bad dreams regularly, and he was shouting and screaming and crying," she added.
Private Duncan MacFarlane's First World War medal. (Dunscore Heritage Centre via SWNS)
"He was paralyzed down his left side, and his right side of his body was flailing about in bed.
"That was obviously PTSD, but in those days, there was no such thing — you got terribly badly wounded, you recovered, and that was all the help that you got."
The family believes it is important to remember the sacrifices made by ordinary people during the war, and hope Duncan's story will remind people of the horrors of war.
"That was Duncan MacFarlane's war," Jo said.
"They had one daughter who was never married, then a son who died at six months of polio, another son who died of diphtheria at 18 months, and then they had my mother.
"If the bullet hadn't landed in the spine of the Bible, he would have died.
"My mother wouldn't have existed, I wouldn't have existed, my two children wouldn't have existed, and their five children, his great-great-great-grandchildren, wouldn't have existed either.
Private Duncan MacFarlane's service Bible. (Dunscore Heritage Centre via SWNS)
"We have a lot to be thankful for."
After years of keeping his legacy alive in their family, Jo now plans to donate the Bible, his dog tags and discharge certificate to the heritage center in Dunscore, Dumfries and Galloway.
Members of the Gordon Highlanders Regimental Association will join the family for a ceremony at the center on April 19.
The memorabilia will remain there until October, before being donated to the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen, where it will be displayed permanently.
Jo said: "I have these flashbacks of little memories of being with him.
"He was a lovely man and I loved him very much — but I have these memories; I don't need the Bible or the rest of it for him to be remembered by me."
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