Norman Bethune

A Brief Biography

By: John Wilson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

As a young man, Norman Bethune served as a stretcher-bearer in the First World War. The experience left him with the dedication and passion to lead crusades to find a cure for tuberculosis, to introduce universal health care in Canada, and to introduce mobile blood transfusion units to save wounded soldier's lives on the battlefield. He served with the Republican armies during the Spanish Civil War and in China where he died of blood poisoning in 1939 Because of his left wing politics, Bethune was ignored for decades in his home country. His childhood home in Gravenhurst, Ontario sees large numbers of visitors each year, although a majority are tourists from China where he is revered as hero for his work with Mao's army in it's struggle against the Japanese. Regardless of politics, Bethune deserves to be more highly regarded everywhere for his lifelong struggle against injustice and suffering wherever he encoutered it. (Age 16 to adult). "I couldn't put the Bethune story down…It is an inspirational tale as well as a historically important one." Times-Colonist "…John Wilson makes the private man come alive…[a] gripping story of a larger-than-life Canadian hero." Quill & Quire