Blitz survivor has sight restored

Kyt · Apr 7, 2008

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Blitz survivor has sight restored

A man who was blinded in one eye during the Blitz has had his sight restored by Scottish specialists, 66 years later.

John Gray, 87, was badly injured during the Luftwaffe's bombing raid on Clydeside and was told he would never again see through his right eye.

However, when he started to go blind in his left eye too, specialists decided to see if there was anything they could do about the wartime wound.

An eye surgeon at Glasgow's Southern General replaced the scarred lens.

Mr Gray can now see through the eye he has not used in six decades and is sufficiently sighted to sit a driving test.

Drop landmines

In 1941, he was on duty as a firewatcher when the air raid sirens sounded.

As the night drew on he watched as the German Luftwaffe flew overhead on their way to drop thousands of tonnes of explosives on Clydeside.

It was to be the most devastating bombing raid the Germans were to carry out in Glasgow. And it was the last thing John remembered for several days.

The Luftwaffe's two-day raid claimed 1,200 lives. John was nearly one of them.

Part the German strategy was to drop landmines in order to stop the emergency services getting to the scene of destruction. One of them landed right on top of the cold store John was in.

Eight hours later he was pulled from the rubble suffering from terrible injuries - the only survivor from that building.

He recalled: "We just heard some glass shattering and that was the last thing I heard until I came to in the Victoria Infirmary with my leg stretched out in plaster and a big bandage on my head.

"I had an injury to my head which took the sight away from my right eye."

Doctors told him he'd never see through that eye again. But John was stoical - after all, he had another eye.

As the years went by a friend's son, Frank Munro, qualified as an optometrist and began to see John for check-ups.

Healthy eye

As optometry became more advanced, Frank was able to take a look at John's old war wound. He realised that John's retina was healthy - all the damage was to the lens.

But it was too risky to attempt an operation - the part of John's brain that 'sees' through that eye hadn't been used for decades and might have become redundant. Frank told John it would be better to keep that eye as a 'spare' - hopefully he'd never need to use it.

Then, in 2007, a 'spare' eye was exactly what John needed. He developed a severe form of Macular Degeneration in his remaining healthy left eye.

There was little specialists could do and Frank had to break the news to him that he would gradually lose sight in his left eye until he was totally blind.

Frank decided to seek the help of a specialist to see if there was anything they could do to restore the sight that had been taken away during the Blitz.

The Southern General Hospital's eye surgeon Dr Ian Bryce removed John's scar tissue and inserted a new artificial lens - something not possible 60 years ago. But the question remained - would John's brain remember how to see through his right eye?

It took a few weeks for John's brain to adjust but to everyone's relief John began to see again. At first it was blurred but now John's vision is good enough to read small print.

Frank has just issued John with his first set of bifocal spectacles with a lens in both the left and the right eye, and the 87-year-old is delighted. He says both his optometrist and his surgeon deserve a knighthood.

"I couldn't be more pleased," he declared. "I've got vision and I can read to a certain extent".

Frank Munro and Dr Bryce are happy to have helped, and say this is lesson to other people.

They say it is always worth getting regular eye check-ups, and if your sight gets worse don't suffer in silence - there's usually something that can be done.

Although they admit it's not every day that they can restore sight to an eye that hasn't been used since 1941.
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spidge · Apr 7, 2008

Incredible........!

Antipodean Andy · Apr 9, 2008

Truly amazing.

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Blitz survivor has sight restored

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