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Creasy Spines

“Every crease is a story.”

Illustration of the kind of find described. We don't reproduce press photographs.
Other· 1940s

A soldier’s war diary in a Bible donated in Edinburgh

By the Editors · As reported by St Columba's Hospice Care, 3 January 2025

FoundEdinburgh, United Kingdom

Tucked inside a Bible

Reunited — it went back to its owner or their family.

Adam, a volunteer at St Columba’s Hospice charity shop on Portobello High Street in Edinburgh, sorted a leather-bound Bible stamped with the name David B. Shanley. Inside were diary entries from the Second World War describing troop movements and battle. Research showed Shanley fought at Guadalcanal, was decorated for heroism on Saipan, became a lieutenant at 21 and later a California police officer. He had died about a decade earlier in Oregon. The shop traced his nephew Michael, who was moved to tears, and sent the Bible to him.

This is our summary of a find reported in the press. For the full story, photographs and any updates, read the original report in St Columba's Hospice Care.

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