Inspiration: Masks for wounded WWI soldiers

July 31, 2025

I learned so much on the subject of facial wounds, reconstructive surgery, and masks during the course of writing Dare Not Tell, that I was compelled to explore the repercussions on Sophie Parker's (a major character in both my novels) life and psyche in “Ripples in a Pond,” my short story in the anthology Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women.

Sophie was a nurse at the American Hospital in Paris during WWI. When the war ended, she married her first husband, an English surgeon who performed reconstructive surgery on soldiers who had suffered facial mutilation. In many cases however, surgery was not an option, and the men needed a way to re-enter society without being shunned or labeled monster. So-called “tin masks” were the answer.

In France, American sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd was a pioneer in creating facial masks so that men who had suffered facial wounds, many so severe the public would have called them monsters, could face the world.

In conjunction with the American Red Cross, Mrs. Ladd set up a studio in Paris with a team of sculptors and artists. A plaster cast was made of a man’s face, then millimeters-thin copper was shaped and molded to cover and recreate missing facial features. The resulting mask was painted to match each man’s skin (and eyes, if necessary) as closely as possible. Moustaches, eyebrows and eyelashes completed the mask which was then held to a man’s face using false eyeglasses or wire loops over his ears.

Similar studios existed in England, specifically the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department, commonly known as “The Tin Nose Shop.”

I hadn’t read the following quote from a soldier to Mrs. Ladd until long after I finished "Ripples in a Pond," but it echoes Charles’ sentiments beautifully: “Thanks to you,” … “I will have a home… The woman I love… will be my wife.” Anna Coleman Ladd pages, Archives of American Art, S.I.

Several novels that cover the subject in fascinating, and in some cases, loving detail:

Toby’s Room, Book 2 in the Life Class Trilogy by Pat Barker. Featuring supporting character Henry Tonks, surgeon turned artist, at the Slade School of Art.

Broken Faces: A romantic story of secrets, love, friendship and survival in the First World War by Deborah Carr. An aristocratic young woman’s journey to driving ambulances in France and a dear friend’s recovery from a disfiguring facial wound. This is my second favorite novel from Deborah Carr (the first is Field of Poppies).

Jennifer Robson’s short story "All For the Love of You" featuring a young American woman working in Anna Ladd Coleman’s mask studio and the soldier who gets his life back. I loved this story and Jennifer Robson’s novel Somewhere in France.

Bottom Row:

The Tin Nose Shop: A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Recommended Read inspired by one of the last great untold stories of WW1 by Don J Snyder. Instead of facing a firing squad, a disgraced British soldier is sent to Northern Ireland help create the first tin masks. Thought-provoking and an unusual setting.

The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris. Pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies dedicated himself to reconstructing the burned and broken faces of the injured soldiers under his care. Non-fiction but riveting.

Pagan: A Novel by W.F. Morris. In the 1930s, two WWI veterans return to France as tourists, not soldiers, and discover a shocking secret hidden in the Vosges mountains. Atmospheric and suspenseful.

Photo credits:

Pastel portrait by Eugene Burnand of Harriet Woods Eoff, an American Red Cross nurse during WWI. She served at the American Expeditionary Force Base Hospital 57 in Paris. https://www.eugene-burnand.com/pastel 75 Miss Harriet Woods Eoff (nurse).htm. The original portrait is at the Museum of the Legion of Honor in Paris.

Mask photos https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3c37181/ and
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/faces-of-war-145799854/