大象传媒

During the first World War, my Uncle, Tom Essex, was given a Book of Prayers inscribed "From Mum to keep you safe". When he went to the Somme 23,000 of his comrades were killed, they lay dying all around him, but Uncle Tom came out unscathed. He always said it was because he had the Book of Prayers safely in his pocket and that God was looking after him. My Father, Edward Bate, was in the Marines in the Second World War, and the Book was passed to him. When my Father was on his first leave he found out that all his Battalion had been sent abroad and on their way the ship was torpedoed and the ship and everyone in her went down. After that he was given a job as an Ambulance Driver and working for the Fire Service, it was so harrowing that he was sent home again on leave.
The Commanding Officer asked my father to take his pal's green canvas case which had been given to all Marines with their initials on back home to his family as he had been killed in action. His pal's family owned a Public House. When my father walked into the pub dressed in the Marines Uniform, of the same height and build as their son, carrying his case with his initials on, the Mother fainted as she thought she had seen the ghost of her son who had recently been killed. It upset my father terribly.
Now the book has been passed to his Grandson, Steven Kerfoot, who is also in the army. He knows the history of the book and its power of faith and looks after it with pride.

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