Norman Bethune, whose full name is Norman Bethune (March 3, 1890 - November 12, 1939), was a Canadian Communist Party member, an internationalist fighter, and a famous thoracic surgeon. Born in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada in 1890, he joined the Communist Party of Canada in 1935, came to China to participate in the Anti-Japanese Revolution in 1938, and died of illness in 1939.

During the year and a half he worked in China, he worked hard for the Chinese Anti-Japanese Revolution. Mao Zedong called him a noble man, a pure man, a moral man, and a man who was free from vulgar tastes. A person, a person who benefits the people.

Extended information

Achievements and contributions:

Joined the Communist Party of Canada in November 1935. The German and Italian fascists supported F. Franco in launching the Spanish Civil War. In the winter of 1936, he volunteered to go to Spain to participate in the anti-fascist struggle. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in China, in order to aid the Chinese people's liberation cause, in March 1938, he was dispatched by the Canadian Communist Party and the American Communist Party and led a medical team composed of Canadians and Americans to come to Yan'an.

In August, he served as the health consultant of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, and devoted himself to improving the army's medical work and field treatment, and reducing the mortality and disability rates of the wounded. Build the rear hospital of the military region into a model hospital, organize the production of various medical equipment, impart knowledge to medical staff, and compile illustrated medical manuals. We advocated the establishment of a surgical hospital, held an internship week for medical cadres, and accelerated the training of health cadres.

Organize mobile field medical teams to go in and out of the fire line to save lives and heal the wounded. In order to reduce the pain and disability of the wounded, he placed the operating table closest to the fire line. At the end of November, he led a medical team to Yanbei, Shanxi Province for field treatment, and performed 71 operations continuously over two days and nights.

In February 1939, he led an 18-member "Eastern Expedition Medical Team" to the front line of Jizhong to treat the wounded. Regardless of the threat of Japanese artillery fire, he worked continuously for 69 hours and performed operations on 115 wounded people. Once, when a wounded man was in urgent need of blood transfusion, he took the initiative to donate 300 ml of blood. He also initiated the establishment of and participated in the voluntary blood transfusion team. Some of the wounded were scattered in the homes of residents in the guerrilla zones, and he and the medical team risked their lives to perform operations on them.

In 4 months, they traveled more than 1,500 miles, performed 315 operations, established 13 operating rooms and dressing stations, and treated more than 1,000 injured people. In order to adapt to the war environment and facilitate field treatment, a mobile hospital was formed, and a medicine carrier was organized and produced, which can hold all the medical equipment and medicines used for 100 surgeries, 500 medicine changes, and the preparation of 500 prescriptions. It is called "Marco Bridge Medicine". Tuozi".

A dressing basket was made, which was called the "Bethune Dressing Basket". In early July, he returned to the mountainous areas of western Hebei to participate in the organizational leadership work of the military region's health authorities. He proposed to open a health materials factory in Jiangsu Province, which solved the problem of insufficient medicines. He also founded a health school and trained a large number of medical cadres.

Compiled various battlefield medical textbooks such as "Organization and Technology of Division Field Hospitals in Guerrilla Warfare", "Instructions for Field Rescue", "Battlefield Treatment Technology", and "Model Hospital Organization Law". In late October 1939, while rescuing the wounded in the Motianling battle in Laiyuan County, the middle finger of his left hand was cut by a scalpel. Later, he became infected while operating on a wounded surgical patient with infectious diseases. Regardless of the pain, he insisted on going to the battlefield for rescue.

He said: "Don't treat me as an antique, use me as a machine gun." Then he followed the medical team to the front line. Eventually, his injuries worsened and turned into sepsis. Treatment failed and he died in Huangshikou Village, Tang County, Hebei Province in the early morning of November 12. On the 17th, the party, government, and military leadership of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region and the residents held a grand funeral for him.

On December 1, all walks of life in Yan'an held a memorial meeting. Mao Zedong wrote an elegy and wrote the article "In Memory of Bethune" on December 21, calling on Chinese Communist Party members to learn from his internationalism. spirit and the spirit of communism. In April 1940, Bethune's tomb was built in Nanguan, Military City, Tang County, Hebei Province.

The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region decided to name the regional health school and model hospital Bethune Health School and Bethune International Peace Hospital respectively. In 1952, Bethune's coffin was moved to the Shijiazhuang Martyrs Cemetery. He also donated his X optical machine, microscope, a set of surgical instruments and a batch of medicines to the military health school.

Bethune's famous sayings:

1. My only hope is to make more contributions.

2. My only hope is to contribute more.

3. I feel very guilty, and I used to be happy.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Bethune