author
James H. Rawlinson
A Canadian First World War veteran who turned personal tragedy into a hopeful memoir, writing with directness about blindness, recovery, and life after battle. His best-known book offers a rare firsthand look at rehabilitation for blinded soldiers in the years after the war.
1 Audiobook
Through St. Dunstan's to Light
by James H. Rawlinson
About the author
James H. Rawlinson was a Canadian soldier who served with the 58th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. He was blinded by shrapnel in June 1917 and later trained at St. Dunstan's Institute for Blind Soldiers and Sailors in London, where he learned skills such as Braille, typing, and carpentry.
In 1919 he published Through St. Dunstan's to Light, a memoir based on those experiences. The book is valued as a firsthand account of war injury, rehabilitation, and the practical work of rebuilding a life after sudden blindness.
Records connected with his postwar life also show him speaking publicly on behalf of disabled veterans, asking for better support for totally disabled men and their families. That background gives his writing an added sense of purpose: it is not only personal, but also quietly persuasive in its call for dignity, independence, and care.