Augusta Chiwy, a Belgian nurse who served in the Second World War and was later known as the Forgotten Angel of Bastogne, has died on Sunday at the age of 94. Her efforts as a nurse in World War II has saved hundreds of American soldiers that the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle America was involved in during the war.
Born on June 6, 1921 in a village near the Rwandan border that is now part of Burundi, Augusta Marie Chiwy was raised under the roof of a a Belgian father and a Colognese mother. Her father eventually took her to Bastogne when she was nine, where she initially planned on becoming a teacher, according to The New York Times.
When the war broke out, however, she turned her efforts to nursing. She eventually volunteered to treat sounded soldiers in an aid station in Bastogne, where dying and gravely wounded soldiers were being attended to by a single doctor, reports The Daily Mail.
It is estimated that her efforts as a nurse during the war helped save hundreds of lives. After the war, however, she lived a pretty unremarkable life, with her war remarkable contribution to the war largely forgotten. She was eventually traced to a retirement home near Brussels by biographer Martin King, who brought her story to the attention of the public.
Col. Joseph McGee, who commanded a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., stated that "Men lived and families were reunited due to (her) efforts."
As she was being awarded on a ceremony in Brussels, where she was honored and even knighted by the King of Belgium, Ms. Chiwy stated that her efforts were hardly remarkable. "What I did was very normal. I would have done it for anyone. We are all children of God."
She will be buried in the town of Bastogne, southeast of Belgium on Saturday after a civilian and military ceremony. She is survived by her two children, Alain and Christine.
Ms. Chiwy is the latest among iconic figures in WWII who has passed away. Earlier this year, this HNGN article covered the death of the sailor behind the iconic kissing photograph taken after Japan's surrender.
