Bethune, Norman

Norman Bethune [Pai Ch'iu-en] (* March 3, 1890 Gravenhurst, † November 12, 1939 China). Canadian thoracic surgeon. Bethune went to the University of Toronto and received his M.D. in 1916. From 1928 to 1936, Bethune worked as a thoracic surgeon in Montreal. During the 1930s he became a convinced communist, and in 1936 he went to Spain, where he joined the anti-Fascist struggle. In early 1938, Bethune went to China to help Mao Zedong and the Red Army fight the Japanese. In November 1939 he died of septicemia, contracted when he cut himself while operating.