South Yorkshire Times, July 8th, 1944
Denaby Soldier’s Luck in Normandy
Private Moffatt holding the pay book which saved his life
Saved by an Army pay book, Private, Fred Moffatt, of Firbeck Street, Denaby Main, who was wounded somewhere in Normandy, is in the Sheffield City General Hospital.
The pay book and contents now have a jagged hole ripped deep into them. But for the book, which was in his left breast pocket, an enemy bullet would have penetrated Private Moffatt’s heart.
“I was the luckiest man to get out of France alive,” he said to a reporter. “Another bullet hit the buckle of my belt and ricochetted off. I got a stomach wound, but wasn’t so bad as it might have been.”
Pte. Moffatt, who is 29, is a regular solder with 11 years of Army life behind him. Formerly employed at Cadeby Main Colliery, he has served in India and Norway and landed in Normandy on the Saturday after D-day. He was in the fight two weeks before being wounded. His father lives in Wood Street, Whinney Hill, Rotherham.