Norman Bethune Norman Bethune (1890-1939) was a Canadian thoracic surgeon
During the 1930s he became a convinced communist, and this led him to Spain, where he joined the anti-Fascist struggle
On the Spanish battle fields he became aware that 75% of serious battle casualties would survive if operated on immediately
In early 1938, he arrived in China, and proceeded to Yan’an, the revolutionary base area of the Chinese Communist Party
Mao Zedong commissioned him to organize a mobile operating unit in the interior of North China
Although he was forced to work under extreme circumstances, sometimes operating for forty hours straight without sleep, and within minutes of the front lines, he saved the lives of many Chinese partymembers and soldiers
He died of septicemia, contracted when he
