American physician who was the main surgeon responsible for treating the victims of the ongoing atrocities (although several nurses were still available) during the Nanjing Massacre, 1937-1938. Along with John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Nanjing Safety Zone, which sheltered more than 200,000 people within its confined walls. During that time, the selfless work of Wilson and his associates saved the lives of countless civilians and POW’s who would have otherwise perished at the hands of the aggressors. He worked tirelessly on the victims despite there being a shortage of both water and electricity.
He was born to Protestant missionaries Wilbur F. Wilson and Mary Rowley Wilson in Nanjing, China. Wilson attended Princeton University and subsequently obtained his medical training at Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1929. He returned to Nanjing in 1936, where he assumed a housestaff position at Drum Tower Hospital of University of Nanking. Amidst the chaos and bloodshed that followed in the months leading up to the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, Wilson worked tirelessly at his post, eventually becoming one among only a handful of physicians who had not left the city by 1937.
After the surrender of Japan, Wilson testified before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East about the atrocities that he had witnessed during the massacre. A collection of diary entries kept by Wilson during his tenure at Nanjing Hospital were later released and offers a grim look into the stark reality that was Nanjing at the time of the atrocities.
Wilson died on 16 November 1967 at age 61. He is portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the 2007 documentary film, Nanking, and by Steve Buscemi in the 2009 film, John Rabe.
Link to Wikipedia biography