The Woman Who Changed The Lives Of WWI Veterans

Sailor Walter Yeo was the first man in history to undergo plastic surgery—the procedure was executed in the year 1917 by Sir Harold Gillies (better known as the father of plastic surgery) who harvested skin grafts from healthy areas of Yeo's body and used them to reconstruct the terrible facial injuries the sailor had suffered. The result, however, was poor: Yeo's face never achieved the degree of normality he desired. Considering the time at which this happened, it is not surprising that the outcome of such a difficult operation would not be entirely favorable. The fascinating thing is that, the very same year, US-American sculptor Anna Coleman moved to France with her husband and founded a Studio for Portrait-Masks where she crafted new faces for the disfigured veterans of WWI. 

The gallery I present to you today is both touching and breathtaking; her talent not only restored faces, it repaired the identity of thousands of men.