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Life-changing impact of help to sight-loss veterans revealed in story of James Crook (100) of Aultbea in Wester Ross By Hector MacKenzie Published: 09:00, 20 February 2021
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James Crook (100) with the birthday card from the Queen that he is now able to read thanks to help from the charity.
An Aultbea World War Two veteran with sight loss is regaining his love of reading once more thanks to specialist equipment and support from charity Sight Scotland Veterans.
James Crook has age-related sight loss that had impacted his ability to read independently, but he was recently able to enjoy reading his 100th birthday cards â including his card from the Queen â with use of his new âVarioâ video magnifier from Sight Scotland Veterans.
I worry I won t see my grandson grow : Pollok veteran opens up on sight loss blow WHEN Pollok veteran and war historian William McKinlay was told he could “wake up one morning totally blind”, he was devastated. “I’m hoping against all hope that my eyesight is going to last me as I worry it will stop me seeing my grandson grow,” said the 69-year-old from Pollok. As a military historian being told he was losing his sight was a blow for William, who loves reading and researching for his tours of the city’s Royal Highland Fusiliers Regimental Museum and leading educational World War lessons in primary schools.
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Ill-equipped for the brutally cold winter of early 1945, those too frail to trudge the hundreds of snow-covered miles simply fell by the roadside and were shot. Johnstone, a young brass finisher from Newmachar in Aberdeenshire, somehow survived the unspeakable ordeal long enough to be liberated by US troops and returned to a rewarding life in Scotland.
But at the age of 98, and with time clearly not on his side, he decided to try to trace some of the comrades who shared his experiences after the British surrender at St Valéry in 1940. He was astonished by the global response to his mission, facilitated by Sight Scotland Veterans (formerly Scottish War Blinded).