Leland Wittler, US Army

[tilly56]

I would be very grateful if somebody could improve this photo for me, please. It was taken in 1944 and Leland was serving in the American Army. The photo is from a newspaper article showing photographs of people who were serving in the army and investing in 5th War Loan Bonds (I have yet to find out what they were.....  )

With many thanks
Tilly x

[loord74]

my try
Rami

[tilly56]

That is amazing! Thank you so much.

Tilly xxx

[AlanBoyd]

This is what Gemini AI produced:

[tilly56]

Thank you very much..... It's quite something to see the photo before and after.

It almost makes me want to go through all my old photos..

Tilly xx

[RJ137]

Am I not seeing something in the original?

[tilly56]

I don't know..... or, having looked closer- is he wearing a beret?

Since the two photos that Alan and Rami kindly did for me, I have found out that he was blond with blue eyes. So could that be a beret on top of blond hair? Hmmmm......

[loord74]

Such old photos cannot be restored in the traditional way. it needs to be reconstructed using modern tools. There are no indications that he was wearing a military beret. The spread of the white space on the face is similar to the spread of face skin, and this is the basis for trying to restore the features. The final decision is up to the owner of the photo, who can judge its accuracy by the presence of similarity in features with relatives and grandchildren of the original photo owner. this is just an opinion.

[tilly56]

I can certainly see a family likeness in the two restored photos....I found it quite moving, I know that the person I am doing it for is very grateful to you and Alan and can't wait to see the photos.He doesn't have internet, so I've printed them off for him and they've come out really well.

Thank you again.