THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SIR FREDERCK BANTING
Frederick Banting was born on November 14th, 1891 in a farmhouse , just two miles from the Town of Alliston (North of Toronto). He grew up as a farm boy and had close ties with his family. He attended a Methodist Church and had a strong Christian background. Fred Banting was your typical Canadian youth growing up in rural Ontario. Throughout high school Fred Banting's marks were average. He enjoyed school and was a bit shy. In his University years Banting started to improve in his marks and earned A's and B's. He had started his first year with an arts program but switched to medicine.
When world war l broke out Fred Banting enlisted in the army as a private. Like many Canadians he was intensely patriotic and willing to do his duty. He trained in Canada at the Niagara Falls army camp and continued his medical education at the University of Toronto.
English: This is an oil painting of Sir Frederick ...
English: Frederick Banting ca. 1920–1925 in Toro...
English: C. H. Best and F. G. Banting ca. 1924In 1915 he decided to specialize in surgery and graduated in 1917. In December 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant and was sent to Campbelltown, New Brunswick for a month.
At that time he was sent to England, posted as a Doctor at an army hospital in Ramgeate, Kent, where he was kept quite busy. While in England he was promoted to Captain. In late June 1918 Captain Fred Banting was re-assigned to No. 3 Canadian General Hospital, France and then to No. 13 Canadian Field Ambulance in the Amiens-Arras sector. This was a front line posting. Here he cleaned, closed and dressed wounds and then sent the wounded soldiers back to base hospitals. It was here he saw first hand the horrors of war up close, not like in England where he treated the wounded from a...