What should you tell him?
Prosthetic leg
Yes! Before WWI, prosthetic limbs were only for the rich and patients had to go to a specialist to be fitted for a handmade prosthetic limb. During WWI, however, the number of amputations rose to unprecedented levels and the manufacture of prosthetics was increasingly standardized. Surgeons collaborated with prosthetic makers to fit patients with limbs directly in the hospital and nurses served as physiotherapists, working with soldiers to teach them how to use their new limbs.
Prosthetic makers started using new materials and also started producing limbs that were more functional than esthetic, sometimes making prosthetics that ended in tools or with changeable parts. It was still a longtime before plastic prosthetics, however!
Crutches
While some amputees might have preferred crutches and others, even once fitted with a limb, might have continued to use a support such as a cane, prosthetic limbs became readily available in the hospitals where soldiers recovered during WWI.
This soldier won't have to remain on crutches if he does not want to!
Private doctor
Not quite…
Prosthetic limbs became much more readily available during WWI and injured soldiers could be fitted for a limb directly in the hospital, without having to go to a private doctor.
Prosthetics were also still made of leather, wood and metals; plastics were not used in prosthetics until after WWII. The sheer number of soldiers who lost limbs in WWI, however, made innovation necessary and helped pave the way towards the incredible prosthetics that we have today!