Norman Bethune was a Canadian surgeon who volunteered to help the People’s Liberation Army in the 1930s. Mao held him up as a model for emulation. See an animated storybook of Norman Bethune here and another collection of storybook pages here.
The wording on the base reads, 毛主席万岁 ”Long live Chairman Mao.” View of the back with calligraphy by Mao below. Two sentences from a longer poem by Mao: “四海翻腾云水怒,五洲震荡风雷激。” English translation: “The four seas are stirred up by angry clouds and waves; The five continents…