https://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/J...

<We Dutch people were very proud to have two grandmasters in our midst. The soldier Willem A. van Rhee was the best chess player in the camp. He held simultaneous competitions, also played blindfolded and almost never lost. The Americans in particular were deeply impressed by his performance. Colonel A. Stuivenberg was the bridge matador.>

http://www.dornierdo24k.nl/?page_id...

<I remember one Saturday morning when, with tools in hand, we headed for the farm with an enlisted men’s squad just in front of us. The last man was a Dutch-Javanese, copper-skinned, barefooted, unshaved, wearing only a loin cloth and a coolie hat. Looking at him you would mentally comment: "couple of jumps from the jungle.”

However, the next afternoon being Sunday, and
games permitted, this same Eurasian was discovered to be Private Van Rhee, Netherlands Indies Army, graduate of a technical school in Holland and topflight chess champion. He was wearing blue shorts and an old shirt but still barefooted, as he circulated from table to table in the center hall of our barracks, playing ten opponents in chess simultaneously. One board was outside the door where he could not see it. In other words he was playing that one "blindfolded,”- and winning practically every game. Yes — brains are wonderful things.

I'm out of practice,” he told me. "I used to play all ten games blindfolded, simultaneously.” >