A wartime souvenir discovered after 66 years

A British veteran of World War II recently discovered that he's been carrying around an unwelcome memento of the fighting for almost seven decades.

An 83-year-old West Midlands man thought he had arthritis only to discover a German bullet had been lodged in his hip for the last 66 years.

War veteran Fred Gough was told by doctors he had been unwittingly been carrying the memento since the Second World War, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Gough, from Darlaston, had been referred to hospital for an x-ray after suffering from an ache in his right leg.

He said: "It has absolutely amazed me and I was pretty shocked to say the least.

"I didn't know it was there - it hasn't caused me any trouble for the last 65 years - its only been in the last three months that its given me problems.

"It was a big surprise to hear that I've been carrying around this bullet inside me for over six decades but I can remember it happening come to think of it.

"I only joined in 1944, when I was 18, so it was towards the end of the war. I remember we were moving forward and we would have been on the front line, but I wouldnt know where.

"We were only kids and we didnt really know what was going on. All I can remember is getting this thump in my thigh, but it didnt knock me off my feet or anything.

"It must have been a German soldier. Someone slapped a plaster on my leg and sent me back down the line. They just sent you to the back and off you went again."

Mr Gough has still got the bullet lodged inside him and it will remain there for as long as it causes him no more discomfort.

Hard to imagine that one could carry around a lump like that and not know it, but stranger things have happened. I know I've got some shrapnel in my neck that wasn't found at the time of injury. It only came to light years later when I was X-rayed during the course of treating another injury, and the doctors decided to leave it alone, as it didn't seem to be bothering me. The only sign of it is a hard lump on the surface of my neck, just above the spine, and that's normally covered by my lower hairline.

Peter