Ms. Chiwy, thank you so much for your service.
A delightful story of extraordinary bravery and service.
Steven Beardsley:
"...Chiwy also once accompanied Prior to the front lines to retrieve wounded. According to King, when Prior remarked that Chiwy’s small size must be the reason she wasn’t wounded by oncoming fire, she replied, “ ‘Oh, so they’re not going to see a black face in white snow? They’re just bad shots.’ ”
King describes Chiwy as a wry wit with the “heart of an ox” in a 5-foot, 2-inch frame. Born in Africa of a Belgian father and Congolese mother, she was sent to Belgium in her youth for an education. She attended nursing school and was working near Brussels in 1944 when she made her way to Bastogne.
In the chaotic days that followed, Prior and Chiwy developed a close relationship, King said. The doctor brought Chiwy to work with him at the 101st headquarters in Heintz Barracks after the aid station’s destruction. When someone raised concerns over a black woman treating white soldiers, Prior fought for her, King said.
Chiwy hoped to continue with the division after it left Bastogne, but was told she wasn’t needed.
King said he needed four years to get Chiwy’s story from her and compare it to Prior’s diaries, along with official reports from the war. Also at Monday’s ceremony was a representative from Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and retired Gen. David Petraeus, former 101st commander, wrote a letter for the ceremony, said Col. Greg Julian, public affairs officer for SHAPE. McGee later said that, even now, Chiwy looked like someone capable of braving the enemy.
“She still has that fire,” he said. “You can just tell.”
King, who sat next to Chiwy during the ceremony, said when they first walked into Monday’s event, she turned to him and said in French, “ ‘They took their bloody time, didn’t they?’....”
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