11/08/2018

Helen Keller was a witness to the disasters of war—more specifically, soldiers blinded in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. In-depth information on Keller's involvement with blinded veterans, and her work to improve the economic, social and psychological lives of returning veterans are all documented in the Helen Keller Archive.

Taken during Helen Keller's tour of U. S. Military Hospitals. Keller and Polly Thomson are photographed in a military hospital ward, possibly in Pennsylvania? They stand on the far side of a bed where a veteran is sitting up. He has a bandage around his head and is bending his knees. The soldier is seen across the foreground of the image at a diagonal. The head of the bed is on the left-hand side of the image. A bedsheet covers him. The women are leaning towards him. Keller is nearest to his head and her right arm touches his back. The women wear very similar light-color jackets with a small pocket with a handkerchief sticking up. They both wear necklaces and hats. A metal-frame bed is visible in the background. (Helen Keller, Polly Thomson and a veteran lying in bed, possibly at a hospital in Pennsylvania.)

Taken during Helen Keller's tour of U. S. Military Hospitals. Keller is seated in a ward at Vaughan General Hospital, Hines, Illinois. She is with ten veterans. Most of the men are standing behind two veterans in wheelchairs. Keller, who is seen in three-quarter profile (facing the left-hand side of the image), is holding the hand of the veteran in the wheelchair who is to her right and slightly in front of her. Also to her right and ahead of her is the second man in a wheelchair, an amputee. Many of the men wear military overalls.Three men are on crutches. One of the men on crutches has his left hand on Keller's shoulder. Keller is wearing a dark pinstripe jacket and skirt, a light-color top and a dark hat. (Helen Keller with wounded veterans at Vaughan General Hospital, Hines, Illinois.)

On behalf of AFB, between 1942 and 1944, Keller supported Senator Robert Wagner's efforts to secure funding for the rehabilitation, special vocational training, placement, and supervision of blind persons, including those blinded in World War II. Her understanding of the psychological impact of blindness on newly disabled veterans is readily apparent in a letter she wrote in 1945 to be distributed to parents of newly blinded soldiers. In the letter she sensitively and skillfully acknowledged the enormous blow that had befallen these men, but warned against pity. In this letter, she speaks about the soldiers’ new rehabilitation skills, and encourages each parent to respond with joy when their son returns home.

Taken during Helen Keller's tour of U. S. Military Hospitals. Keller and Polly Thomson stand in a ward at U. S. Naval General Hospital, Bainbridge, Maryland. Keller and Thomson stand in the aisle of a ward. Behind them is a row of metal-frame beds lined up against a wall with three windows and pull-down blinds. Servicemen and a servicewoman are sitting and leaning against the beds, A patient is in one of the beds. All of them are looking from behind at Keller and Thomson. The backs of four sailors fills the foreground of the image as they watch Keller and Thomson. A guitar can be seen lying flat on the left-hand side of the photograph. Keller's left hand is on Thomson's right shoulder. (Helen Keller and Polly Thomson surrounded by military personnel on a ward at U. S. Naval General Hospital, Bainbridge, Maryland.)

Taken during Helen Keller's tour of U. S. Military Hospitals. Keller and Polly Thomson are in a ward at Lovell General Hospital, Ayer, Massachusetts. A veteran is pictured lying in a metal-frame bed. The bed cuts across the foreground of the image at a diagonal, with the head of the bed on the left-hand side of the image. The soldier is wearing pyjamas, a bedsheet covers his waist and left leg. His right leg is visible from just above the knee to his calf. It is suspended in a sling from a contraption above him. Thomson and Keller who stand on the far side of the bed are bending over towards him. Keller is nearest to his head, her right hand is on his pillow. Keller is possibly holding the veteran's right hand in her left hand and Thomson hold's Keller's left wrist. The women wear hats and dark pinstripe jackets (Helen Keller, Polly Thomson and a veteran at Lovell General Hospital, Ayer, Massachusetts.)

Keller visited hospitals during all three wars. Her first-hand experiences are documented in travel schedules (between November 1944 and May 1946 she and her traveling companion Polly Thomson visited over 70 Army hospitals around the United States), letters demanding amendments to the social security act and rehabilitation services, letters to her from grateful Army Hospital personnel as well as images and film footage.

On this Veterans Day, we salute our men and women of the armed forces. Following in Keller’s footsteps, the American Foundation for the Blind remains committed to assisting our nation’s veterans coping with vision loss.

Author Helen Selsdon
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