Norman Bethune

Besides being a medical doctor and an inventor in his field, Norman

Bethune was a compassionate and courageous humanitarian who

worked on the battlefront not only in World War I, but also in the

Spanish Civil War and the Chinese Civil War.

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If you visit China, you won’t find many statues of non-Chinese heroes. One of the few
exceptions is the statue of a Canadian, Dr. Norman Bethune.
Norman came from a well-to-do family but always wanted to help those less fortunate
than himself. Going to university in the early 1900s in Toronto, he interrupted his studies
twice - once to go and teach English to immigrant mine laborers in northern Ontario, and
again to volunteer to carry wounded soldiers on the battlefront in World War I.
Norman had a brain equal to his big heart and, after becoming a doctor, he went on to
invent or perfect several tools used in surgery. One of them, the Bethune Rib Shears, is
still used today.
While he became a very successful surgeon, Dr. Bethune still devoted most of his time
and energy to helping others. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, he treated poor
people for free, and tried to convince colleagues and governments to provide better care
for the needy.
When fascists tried to seize power in the Spanish Civil War, Dr. Bethune volunteered for
the democratic side. He saw many soldiers bleed to death on the battlefields before they
could be taken to field hospitals, so he invented the world’s first portable transfusion unit,