![\"\"](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IOhDW7al3iM\/TQNxGBfTtjI\/AAAAAAAABBI\/NjcoQmdEvAU\/s1600\/Augusta%2BChiwy.JPG\")
<\/center>In 1921 a child was born in the Belgian Congo. The child was a girl; her name was Augusta Chiwy.\u00a0 She was the daughter of a Belgian veterinarian and his wife, who was native Congolese.<\/p>\nAt age 9, Chiwy moved to Belgium with her family \u2013 to Bastogne, her father\u2019s hometown. In 1940, she turned 19. She went to the town of Leuven, and studied nursing.<\/p>\n
She was living in Belgium on 16 December 1944. She returned to Bastogne to be with her family during the Chiristmas holidays.<\/p>\n
Some would say that wasn\u2019t the best choice she could have made given later circumstances. However, a number of US GIs would disagree.<\/p>\n
We all know what happened at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. However, what\u2019s not as well known is what happened in one of their medical stations \u2013 specifically, that of the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion, 10th Armored Division.<\/p>\n
That aid station was commanded by John Prior. It was critically short of medical personnel.<\/p>\n
Ms. Chiwy had been attending wounded civilian and military personnel with her uncle, a Belgian doctor. However, on 21 December she and a friend, Ren\u00e9e Lemaire, volunteered to serve at the 20th Armored Infantry\u2019s aid station. She treated numerous wounded, and reportedly wore the US Army\u2019s uniform and assisted in retrieving wounded from the field.<\/p>\n
Because of her race, some US soldiers were reluctant to allow Chiwy to provide them treatment. Indeed, Army regulations of the time actually forbid treatment of white soldiers by black nurses. (Yeah, that\u2019s pretty stupid \u2013 but 1944 was a different, more prejudiced time.) The aid station commander put a stop to that nonsense; he told any troops who objected that Chiwy was a volunteer, and that their choices were “You either let her treat you or you die.\u201d<\/p>\n
On 24 December, a German 500lb bomb hit the aid station. Chiwey and her friend were both working there at the time.<\/p>\n
Lemaire was killed; so were 30 wounded troops. Lemaire became widely known afterwards as the “Angel of Bastogne”.<\/p>\n
Chiwy was working with Lemaire in the same building, but was blown through a wall by the force of the explosion vice being killed.\u00a0She was not seriously hurt. She returned to duty and continued to serve in the Battalion\u2019s aid station until the Siege of Bastogne was lifted.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s estimated that Chiwy\u2019s care was instrumental in saving the lives of more than 100 US soldiers.<\/p>\n
Later, Chiwy continued her career in nursing. She worked at a hospital specializing in spinal injuries. She married a Belgian soldier. They had two children.<\/p>\n
Chiwy was reluctant to speak of her wartime experiences. She was thought by many who knew of her wartime service to have died in Bastogne. While researching a related project, British historian Martin King heard of her.<\/p>\n
He located her in a nursing home IVO Brussels. After extensive cross-checking with Prior\u2019s wartime diaries, King confirmed that she was indeed the same lady who\u2019d served with him at Bastogne.<\/p>\n
In 2011, the Army presented Chiwy the Department of the Army Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service. Earlier that year, she had been knighted by Belgium\u2019s King Albert II.<\/p>\n
Augusta Chiwy died on 23 August 2015, aged 94. She was laid to rest this past Saturday. I\u2019m guessing she was indeed in heaven well before the Devil knew she was dead.<\/p>\n
Rest in peace, angel. You certainly deserve that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sources:<\/u><\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/08\/26\/world\/europe\/augusta-chiwy-forgotten-wartime-nurse-dies-at-94.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.stripes.com\/news\/army-honors-wwii-nurse-for-aiding-u-s-troops-during-battle-of-the-bulge-1.163301<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.newser.com\/article\/04abf43f14ea45e3bff7bdcc2342392b\/belgium-lays-to-rest-heroic-nurse-who-saved-countless-american-lives-in-battle-of-the-bulge.html<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Augusta_Chiwy<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.syracuse.com\/kirst\/index.ssf\/2015\/08\/augusta_chiwy_dies_legendary_nurse_helped_syracuse_doctor_tend_wounded_at_the_bu.html<\/a><\/p>\n A documentary film about Chiwy based on King’s research and efforts to find her can be viewed on YouTube<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"