Pvt. Duncan MacFarlane, a postman from Glasgow, was serving with the 4th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders at Passchendaele in October 1917. On the 18th, during the Third Battle of Ypres, he was struck by a German rifle bullet aimed at his chest. The round was stopped by the spine of the service Bible he carried in his breast pocket.
MacFarlane was wounded by bayonet and gunfire elsewhere in the same engagement, was missing in action for six months, and was eventually found in Edinburgh, where he had been hospitalized without identification. He survived the war and returned home.
His granddaughter Jo Abbott donated the bullet-damaged Bible together with his dog tags and discharge papers to the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen, where they are slated for permanent display. A similar bullet-damaged WWI Bible is held by the Imperial War Museum in London (object 30081995).