Norman Bethune

Doing my history questions the other day, I came across a question about Norman Bethune. Now this was a name I’m pretty sure I hadn’t heard before, but it rang a bell somehow. So I was reading the page in the textbook about Bethune when my mom happened to walk in. I was surprised to learn that she knew all about Bethune (whom I discovered I knew previously by the name of 白求恩 – which was why he sounded familiar).



In short, Bethune was a Canadian doctor who was born in Ontario in 1890 and served in WW1 as a stretcher bearer but was injured and sent back to Canada. He finished his medical studies and went to Spain (in the Spanish civil war) and China (during their struggles against the Japanese). He saved many lives there, and he developed the first mobile-blood transfusion service (a concept that is still in use today).

Bethune on the left with Chinese Army Official and Translator

When I asked my mom to elaborate more on it, she gave me this whole dramatic speech that sounded like it came right out of some textbook; saying that “Bethune was a great man who came from so far overseas to aid the Chinese and gave his life for that cause”. I was astonished because I never thought that there was a Canadian hero that the Chinese upheld with such great respects that I had not even heard of before.

I wondered why this was and so I researched a little (and asked my dad) and I think that the reasons behind this could be that he didn’t really help his own country and instead went to a place like China (there was racism against Asians in Canada during his time) and also because he was a supporter of the Communist Party of Canada. This really made me disappointed because I think that Bethune is really a hero that should be more well known and respected in his homeland.