Bernhard Mertmann (b. Germany, 1938), blinded during the Second World War (WWII). "I had to pee and left the air-raid shelter to go to the toilet. This was on the day that the Americans entered our city. I ran into Friedhelm, a fourteen year old boy from the neighbourhood. He showed me a piece of ammunition. He pulled something off it and then tried to put it back on. It didn't work so he hit it with a pair of tongs. I wasn't scared so I just stood there watching. The thing exploded. Friedhelm was dead; I was blind. A couple of years later I went to a regular school. I was placed in the first row but I couldn't follow at all. I stayed there for a year and then went to a boarding school for blind people. I now lead a health resort for war blinded people. They come to relax for a couple of weeks. Most of them are married and have families. They are not socially isolated. But aside from their blindness and other injuries, these people are becoming old. Most of them are between 80 and 90 years old now and that creates new problems.". CHECK with MRM/FNA