The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-09-17
NATION TO HELP
BLIND VETERANS
BY FRANK CAREY
Associated Press Science Writer

| ny FhANh CAhEY
Associated Press Science Writer
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16.-Amer.
lea has program designed to pre-.
vent any of her blind war heroes
from winding up as pencil-sellers
On street corners.
The Army and Navy are pledged
to retain sightless men under mill
tary care until they've learned
how to be blind" and are brought
to the door of opportunity in a
world they cannot see.
The Veterans Administration is
pledged to guide them beyond that
door, restore them to employabil-
ity-if they want to be place
and to follow their cases until a
happy future is assured.
The Veterans Administration is
prepared to have men trained as
farmers, industrial workers, small
store merchants, teachers, doctors,
lawyers-anything that suits their
background and o t her physical
handicaps.
Since Pearl Harbor, says Major
M. E. Randolph, of the ophthal-
mology division of the Army Sur
geon Generals office, approxima-
tely 225 men have been recorded
as blind in all Army and Navy
: services. Nearly half were blinded
in battle; the rest by training &C.
cidents or disease.
More than half the total are
listed as Totally blind Of the
rest, some can distinguish between
darkness and light, others can see
the outline of certain objects but
cannot define them. These latter
are rated as blind because their
vision is considered insufficient for
use on most jobs.
Approximately 100 of the 225 al
ready have been discharged from
military service. S o m of these
have other disabilities which would
prevent them from carrying on
job-training.
Headquarters of h e Veterans
Administration has records of only
ten men trained or now in training.
Officials say that reports expect
ed from regional offices within the
next few weeks may add consider
ably to that figure.
They say, too, that some dis
charged blind veterans eligible for
and capable of training prefer to
remain at home for time with
their families. Others are waiting
for clearance of their pension ap-
pllcatlons-a matter w h h must
be settled b # ore job training
starts.
Pensions for the blind having
no other disabilities run as high
as $3.50 month";" one official said.
land some men might elect to let
life 60 along on that basis for
time without going into job train
ing.
"But we feel that eventually most
of the blind will want some Job
or profession. So, in the case of
blind men who have started some
pre-vocational rehabilitation train
ing while still in service but who
have not Immediately sought con-
tlnuance OF it after their discharge,
we are going out onto the HIGHWAYS
and by-Ways to contact them and
get them started again."
Two blind men already have
been trained to serve as "blind
consultants," and they're back in
military hospitals helping train the
Another blind veteran has enter
ed Bucknell university, where he'll
take a four years course in eco
nomlcs-at government expense.
Another is having a law course
read to him at George Washington
university here. Still another is be-
ing trained as reporter.
In the First World war, the Army
mad only LII cases diagnosed as
blind. OF these, only IS were clas-
sified totally blind.
However. many men developed
blindness during the y ars after
the war as direct result of SER
vice-connected injury, or illness.
Now on the pension rolls of the
Veterans Administration are 1928
service-connected blind cases of
World War l. Some others who
had received blindness pensions
have died.
What is the reason for low in
cidence of outright blindness dur
ing the period of actual combat?
The principal reason, declares
Captain Clifford A. Swanson of the