Soldier Saved by POCKET WATCH After He Was Shot in The Chest

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The life of a brave First World War soldier was miraculously saved by a pocket watch while fighting on the front line in France.

Corporal Walter Davis was struck in the chest by a bullet while wearing the two inch-wide watch – which absorbed the impact.

The shot incredibly bounced off, leaving only a small chip on the face of the timepiece.

Davis joined the army at 22 and was sent straight to the Western Front in 1915 – he kept a diary of his experiences.

He wrote: “My thoughts are that I shall never see England again.

“One of these days I shall get it, but I am more used to it now and I don’t care what comes.

“If I am to die here, I shall, and if not here then somewhere else, for they are all going a few at a time.”

But despite Walter’s fears of being killed along with his fellow soldiers he was to survive even after being hit by a bullet in the chest.

The book has now been reproduced by his great-granddaughter Louise Ward, who has also included a section about her grandfather, Walter John, who served in World War Two.

The words and the watch have also been the inspiration for a set of glass sculptures by Louise, a 23-year-old art student from Walsall.

She told the Wolverhampton Express and Star: “He didn’t have any children before the war so if it wasn’t for that watch in the top pocket of his uniform jacket I wouldn’t be here.

“In fact, there are 45 people from four generations who wouldn’t be here now.

“The watch was just in the right place. The bullet hit at the thickest bit of it.”