Phoenix: The Life of Norman Bethune

On February 13, 1937 Bethune was in Almeria, Spain. He and his companions Hazen Sise and Thomas Worsley had been trying to help evacuate refugees from Malaga, who were being attacked by Fascists forces as they fled along the coastal road toward Almeria. This vicious assault on helpless people was one of the greatest atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, causing far more casualties than the better-known bombing of Guernica. After three days of terror, forty thousand exhausted ...people reached Almeria, but even there they were not safe, because the Fascists bombed the city. Outraged, Bethune wrote an account of the brutality he had witnessed. "...I picked up in my arms three dead children. They had been standing in a queue waiting for a cupful of preserved milk and a handful of dried bread....The street was a shambles of the dead and dying, lit only by the orange glare of burning buildings...." His impassioned article was published as "The Crime on the Road: Malaga to Almeria." See more

In late January 1938, Norman Bethune and his companions were in Hong Kong, awaiting a flight to Wuhan, at that time the wartime capital of China. Their plane was delayed because the Wuhan airport was under attack by Japanese aircraft. On their arrival they were plunged into the atmosphere of war; air raid sirens wailed, and a ground crew rushed to shroud their plane in camouflage netting. Bethune and Jean Ewen, the nurse who worked with him, soon made themselves useful by volunteering in a hospital across the river in Hanyang.

By January 1937, Bethune's mobile blood transfusion service was up and running in Madrid. He fondly called this ambulance "La Rubia" (The Blonde) because it had golden-coloured wood panels on the sides.

In the last week of December, 1936, Republican-held Madrid was being bombed and shelled by the Nationalists. Bethune and his team raced to deliver blood to hospitals. He wrote, "Our night work is very eerie! We get a phone call for blood. Snatch up our packed bag...and with our armed guard off we go through the absolutely pitch dark streets and the guns and machine guns and rifle shots sound as if they were in the next block....Without lights we drive, stop at the hospital and with a search light in our hands find our way....All the operating rooms have been moved into the basement to avoid falling shrapnel, bricks and stones come through the operating room ceiling...."

On February 13, 1937 Bethune was in Almeria, Spain. He and his companions Hazen Sise and Thomas Worsley had been trying to help evacuate refugees from Malaga, who were being attacked by Fascists forces as they fled along the coastal road toward Almeria. This vicious assault on helpless people was one of the greatest atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, causing far more casualties than the better-known bombing of Guernica. After three days of terror, forty thousand exhausted ...people reached Almeria, but even there they were not safe, because the Fascists bombed the city. Outraged, Bethune wrote an account of the brutality he had witnessed. "...I picked up in my arms three dead children. They had been standing in a queue waiting for a cupful of preserved milk and a handful of dried bread....The street was a shambles of the dead and dying, lit only by the orange glare of burning buildings...." His impassioned article was published as "The Crime on the Road: Malaga to Almeria." See more

In late January 1938, Norman Bethune and his companions were in Hong Kong, awaiting a flight to Wuhan, at that time the wartime capital of China. Their plane was delayed because the Wuhan airport was under attack by Japanese aircraft. On their arrival they were plunged into the atmosphere of war; air raid sirens wailed, and a ground crew rushed to shroud their plane in camouflage netting. Bethune and Jean Ewen, the nurse who worked with him, soon made themselves useful by volunteering in a hospital across the river in Hanyang.

By January 1937, Bethune's mobile blood transfusion service was up and running in Madrid. He fondly called this ambulance "La Rubia" (The Blonde) because it had golden-coloured wood panels on the sides.

In the last week of December, 1936, Republican-held Madrid was being bombed and shelled by the Nationalists. Bethune and his team raced to deliver blood to hospitals. He wrote, "Our night work is very eerie! We get a phone call for blood. Snatch up our packed bag...and with our armed guard off we go through the absolutely pitch dark streets and the guns and machine guns and rifle shots sound as if they were in the next block....Without lights we drive, stop at the hospital and with a search light in our hands find our way....All the operating rooms have been moved into the basement to avoid falling shrapnel, bricks and stones come through the operating room ceiling...."

https://www.thestar.com//can-a-musical-about-norman-bethun