BRUSSELS — A Belgian nurse who saved the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the brutal, month- long Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War II was given a U.S. award for valor Monday67 years late.
Congolese-born Augusta Chiwy, 93, received the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service from U.S. Ambassador Howard Gutman at a ceremony in Brussels.
Chiwy had volunteered to assist at an aid station in the town of Bastogne, where wounded and dying U.S. soldiers in the thousands were being treated by a single doctor in December 1944 and January 1945. Chiwy braved heavy shelling, combing the battlefield for the wounded and saving the lives of hundreds of GIs.
Gutman said the long delay in presenting the award was because it was assumed Chiwy had been killed when a bomb destroyed her hospital. She was finally located a few years ago by a British historian who had heard stories about a black nurse at Bastogne.
Chiwy was knighted by the Belgian king in June. The Associated Press
