‘My Life Preserver’: 23 Random Items That Have Stopped Bullets in Battle

8. Notebook

In 1891, Pvt. George Dowsell was fighting in the British Army during the Third Anglo-Burmese War when a stray bullet struck him in the chest, lodging in his notebook.

9. iPod (remember those?)

Sgt. Kevin Garrad, a U.S. Army Humvee gunner from Savannah, Georgia, returned to base in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2005 to find that his Apple iPod had been destroyed by an AK-47 round that had hit him in the chest.

10. Medal

Gustav Litner, a German soldier, was saved by a silver military medal in his neck purse that was hit by a British .303 Lee-Enfield round at the Battle of Mons in 1914.

11. Laptop

In 2007, a Panasonic Toughbook carried by an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division was hit by an Iraqi bullet that lodged in the hard drive, leaving him unharmed.

12. Shaving stick

Sapper Ernest Grantham, a British soldier, was saved in 1917 when a bullet struck the tin-covered shaving stick he was carrying.

13. Crucifix

Divine intervention? A metal crucifix in the tunic of Pvt. James Burke of the Royal Irish Fusiliers saved him when it deflected a German bullet in France in 1916.

14. Knife

During the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, Navy SEAL John Gay was hit by an AK-47 round that struck his Randall Bowie knife. The blade shattered, stopping the round from entering his leg.

15. Rifle

A Marine lieutenant was running toward a crater during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 when a bullet struck his rifle, splitting it in half but leaving him unharmed.

16. Watch

Pvt. Edwin Hubenthal of Spokane, Washington, was going over the top in France in 1918 when a German round hit his watch, which deflected the bullet into his leg rather than his stomach.

17. Camera

In 2017, an Islamic State sniper’s bullet struck a GoPro camera hanging from the neck of Iraqi journalist Ammar Alwaely in Mosul, Iraq. The camera stopped the round from hitting his chest.

18. Pewter flask

The life of American Revolution soldier Elijah Pugh was spared at Kettle Creek, Georgia, in 1779 when a pewter flask hanging on his chest deflected a lead bullet.

19. Water canteen

Staff Sgt. Bill Rollins was hit by a tracer round in Vietnam in 1968. Dark liquid spread through his pant leg. The liquid turned out to be grape Kool-Aid in his water canteen, which had the bullet lodged inside it.

20. Kim by Rudyard Kipling

French legionnaire Maurice Hamonneau was knocked unconscious during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. He awoke to find a bullet embedded in his pocket edition of Kim, a novel by Rudyard Kipling.  If the book had been 20 pages shorter, the round might have killed him.

21. Shaving mirror (with an assist from a deck of cards)

A bullet that hit WWI Canadian soldier John Falloon in the chest pierced a deck of cards, then was stopped by his shaving mirror.

22. Packet of postcards

Cpl. Sidney Day was serving in the Suffolk Regiment at the Somme in 1916 when a packet of postcards in his breast pocket deflected a bullet from his heart. A second round embedded in a leather compass case in his pocket, leaving a bruise on his groin.

23. Wallet

Lt. Tom Faley of the 101st Airborne Division felt a “whack in my tail” during a 1965 firefight in Vietnam. Days later, he was drying out his fatigues and found a .30-caliber bullet in his wallet, which had been in his back pocket. He reflected: “Luck plays a great deal in combat.”

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