(Martin) Henry Dawson was born in Truro but spent his formative years going to school in Halifax and Montreal or saving lives and fighting Huns in World War One France.
He later worked in hospitals in Kentucky and in New York City.
In WWII, he gave up his own life to try and save hundreds of thousands of people - people totally unknown to him and from all over the world - who were dying (needlessly) of subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE) .
His actions ultimately has benefitted ten billion of us , so far, since 1940 - via a form of herd immunity generated when penicillin, thanks largely to Henry, became a inexpensive public domain lifesaver.
Whatever Henry did, Henry did by himself - it was not done by the community of his birth, Truro.
So honour him in Truro, if you want , but also honour him everywhere valour earns acclaim ...
My forthcoming biography "The OTHER Manhattan Project" celebrates the 75 years since Dr Dawson birthed Antibiotics in Manhattan on October 16th 1940. This project was more from Venus than Mars, more Emma Lazarus than Gordon Gekko. Defying governments, defying Allied/Axis eugenics, even defying the team's physical disabilities. But in the end, Manhattan beaconed the right of EVERYONE to receive life-saving penicillin out to a world tired, huddled and wretched.
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