A brainwave that occurred to 65-year-old former Harrier pilot Andy Dakin while out walking his dog has led to almost 10,000 Bibles being given to Ukrainian military being trained in the UK.
Gulf War veteran Dakin is the Executive Director of the Naval & Military Bible Society (NMBS), which has been providing Bibles to the British armed forces since 1779. When it became apparent that the Ukraine conflict would not end as quickly as some initially predicted, the NMBS decided to offer spiritual support to Ukraine’s frontline combatants in the form of Bibles in their own language.
The initial idea was to have them printed in Ukraine, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence delivering them to the front line. This had two problems. The first was that print costs in other Eastern European countries may be significantly less than in Ukraine, but deliveries from there could prove difficult. Secondly, it was hard to establish a specific contact within the Ukrainian military who could approve the design of a military Bible and understand the logistical processes involved.
