There is a great story on the Reading Copy Book blog.
From the story...
Shot in battle, Maurice Hamonneau, a soldier in the French Foreign Legion during WWI, lay wounded and unconscious for hours after an artillery attack near Verdun. Upon gaining full consciousness, Hamonneau realized that a bullet had been deflected by a 1913 French edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (pictured above) he was carrying in his breast pocket. A mere twenty pages saved Hamonneau’s life.
When Hamonneau heard that Kipling was mourning the loss of his son John, he sent Kipling the life-saving book along with the Croix de Guerre medal he had been awarded. Kipling was greatly moved by this gesture and agreed to accept the book and medal only on the condition that he would return both items if Hamonneau ever had a son of his own.
Hamonneau did have a son and actually named him Jean in honour of the son Kipling lost.
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