CHILDREN OF GOD

CHILDREN OF GOD

During the Bastogne siege, two young Belgian nurses braved constant danger while feverishly caring for countless American casualties. One of them, Renée Lemaire, was killed during a German bombing raid. The other nurse, Augusta Chiwy, was lucky and survived. Augusta was the daughter of a Belgian veterinarian and an African mother from the Belgian colonies. “A black face in all that white snow was a pretty easy target,” she later kidded. “Those Germans must be terrible marksmen.” Despite racial objections from a few, Augusta ministered to hundreds of GIs, dressed their wounds, and boiled snow for water. Late in life, Augusta received a knighthood from the Belgian king and a high civilian honor from the US government. “What I did was very normal,” Augusta Chiwy insisted. “I would have done it for anyone. We are all children of God.” Augusta died at age 94 in 2015. As a special honor, soldiers of the US and Belgian armies guarded her coffin during an impressive service at the towering American Bulge Memorial in Bastogne.

2017-08-29T18:50:56+02:00