Between 1937 and 1845, China was engaged in a long-drawn war with the Japanese. The people of China buried their internal differences and forged a united front to repel the invaders.

At the time, India too was engaged in a long conflict with the British. Under the aegis of the Indian National Congress, the people of India sent a medical mission to China, consisting of five doctors.

One of these doctors was Dwaraknath Kotnis, an idealistic young man of twenty-eight, determined to save as many lives as he could. As the war raged on, Dr Kotnis worked tirelessly with the ill and the wounded, never flagging. Today he is remembered in both India and China as a symbol of selflessness, a man who amidst all the destruction of war stood firm.