Hutcheson, Bellenden Seymour, 1883-1954

Dr. Bellender Hutcheson, a graduate of Northwestern University’s Feinberg Medical School, was born in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, but renounced his American citizenship in order to fight in the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War I. He joined the 97th Battalion that was later attached to the 75th, attaining the rank of captain; he was demobilized in 1919. He received both the Victoria Cross and the Military Cross at Buckingham Palace; these honours were for “conspicuous gallantry” and devotion to duty under heavy fire on two occasions: a) when he attended wounded including enemy wounded left behind, and b) when he rushed out in front of the Canadian lines in full view of the enemy to attend to a wounded sergeant. After the war he returned to the US, resumed his practice, reclaimed his US citizenship and married his sweetheart. In 2016, the mayor of his hometown, Mt. Carmel, proclaimed December 16 Captain Bellender S. Hutcheson Day.