Hildur Hermanson,(和為貴)
a Canadian Presbyterian nurse who risked her life to rescue
wounded Taiwanese during the Feb. 28 Incident of 1947, passed
away in her native Canada on June 19, 1992. Ms. Hermanson was 92
years old.
She first
arrived in Formosa (Taiwan) in 1931 as a medical missionary. She
soon became nursing director at Mackay hospital (馬偕醫院)and
established the hospital’s outstanding nursing training system.
In 1940, she and all other western missionaries were forced to
leave Taiwan by the island’s Japanese colonizers. Following the
conclusion of the war, Ms. Hermanson returned as part of the
UN’s Rehabilitation Committee, and helped Mackay Hospital to
rebuild.
She was an
eyewitness to much of the horror of the “2-28 Incident” in which
Nationalist KMT troops massacred uncounted thousands of
Taiwanese. She led other
Nurses, at great
personal risk, to rescue wounded civilians lying in the streets,
and carried them into the hospital to receive treatment. Her
deeds were recounted in the first English book to expose the
“2-28 Incident”, Formosa Betrayed, by George Kerr, an
American diplomat and critic of the KMT regime.
Starting in 1950
she took her medical skills to the villages and towns far from
the hustle and bustle of Taipei, giving treatment and
informative talks on women’s health issues and other basic
health problems to both plains (Han Taiwanese) and mountain
(aboriginal) areas. From 1961 till her retirement in 1965 Ms.
Hermanson devoted her considerable energies to medical
evangelism among aborigines.
Following her
return to Canada, she continued to work to improve society, and
in 1990, at the age of 90, she was awarded an honorary degree
from Vancouver School of Theology in recognition of her life and
ministry, both in Canada and in Taiwan.
Ms. Hermanson
spent nearly thirty years sharing the Gospel of Christ with the
people of Taiwan. She devoted her medical skills and her energy
to help improve Taiwan’s society, as well as her own homeland.
The PCT treasures her commitment and her sacrifice, and we
grieve at her passing.