#augusta chiwy

[blood-mocha-latte]

franz kafka | letters to milena | ten band of brothers ships | ten lines | installment eight: renee/anna

preview | installment nine: garcia/hashey

previous installments: winnix, baberoe, webgott, speirton, luztoye, pat/chuck, and randlemartin

edits taglist below the cut (contact to be added/removed):

@frstcorinthians @lamialamia @ep6bastogne @whollyjoly @flashnthunder @dcyllom @mutantmanifesto

taglist for the kafka series: @impalachick @grumpy-liebgott

[disastrouscanasta]

@krakerjaksstuff

who was Augusta Chiwy?

Episode 6 of Band of Brothers is a masterpiece, but I think writer Bruce C. McKenna made a huge error in only including Augusta Chiwy as a background character with no name in the episode, while Renée is a focus. I did some research on this amazing hero, who honestly deserves a miniseries of her own.

Renée Lemaire and Augusta Marie Chiwy (pronounced shee-wee) were nurses that lived in Belgium before the Battle of the Bulge. They volunteered to help Dr. John ‘Jack’ Prior (who was assigned to the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion) when the battle started. Dr. Prior evacuated the wounded soldiers he was taking care of from Noville to Bastogne as Noville was taken by German troops. Lemaire and Chiwy both volunteered to help Dr. Prior take care of the massive amounts of wounded men who were brought from the front lines into Bastogne. 

Augusta was born in Belgian-colonized Africa (in the part that is now Burundi) to a Belgian father and African mother. Her family moved to Belgium when she was a child, and she trained as a nurse there. She was visiting Bastogne to see her father when the Battle of the Bulge began. She chose to use her skills as a nurse to help the soldiers who were trying to defend Bastogne from German forces. 

Augusta Chiwy was heroic in her work during the Battle of the Bulge. War historian Peter Chaddick-Adams wrote that “Chiwy accompanied ‘Doc’ Prior to collect casualties from Mardasson Hill, north-east of Bastogne, wearing a GI uniform because her own clothes had become saturated with blood.” Chaddick-Adams wrote that Dr. Prior thought that bullets missed Augusta as she was out on the line because she was “so small.” Augusta was only 23 years old when she cared for hundreds of soldiers during the battle. 

Renée Lemaire was killed by the Luftwaffe on December 23 when German aircraft bombed the Bastogne aid station, along with thirty wounded soldiers who were also inside. Augusta Chiwy was blown through a wall but miraculously survived the bombing. Her contributions to saving lives, and providing comfort to many soldiers in their last moments were largely unrecognized until 2011, when Augusta Chiwy was granted Knighthood by the king of Belgium for her service in the battle. The American ambassador to Belgium also presented Chiwy with the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service. At this ceremony, Chiwy said: “What I did was very normal. I would have done it for anyone. We are all children of God.”

She passed away at 94 years old on August 23, 2015. 

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/world/europe/us-honors-belgian-nurse-for-heroism-in-world-war-ii.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/augusta-chiwy-forgotten-african-nurse-of-battle-of-the-bulge-dies-at-94/2015/08/27/8ff843ec-4bfb-11e5-84df-923b3ef1a64b_story.html

Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45 by Peter Caddick-Adams, pages 374-375 

[rockpaperscissuhs]

Band of Brothers Birthdays

January

1 John S. Zielinski Jr. (b. 1925)

21 Richard D. “Dick” Winters (b. 1918)

26 Herbert M. Sobel (b. 1912)

30 Clifford Carwood "Lip" Lipton (b. 1920)

31 Warren H. “Skip” Muck (b. 1922) & Robert B. Brewer (b. 1924)

February

8 Clarence R. Hester (b. 1916)

18 Thomas A. Peacock (b. 1920)

23 Lester A. “Les” Hashey (b. 1925)

March

1 Charles E. “Chuck” Grant (b. 1922)

2 Colonel Robert L. “Bob” Strayer (b. 1910)

4 Wayne “Skinny” Sisk (b. 1922)

10 Frank J. Perconte (b. 1917)

13 Darrell C. “Shifty” Powers (b. 1923)

14 Joseph J. “Joe” Toye (b. 1919)

24 John D. “Cowboy” Halls (b. 1922)

26 George Lavenson (b. 1917) & George H. Smith Jr. (1922)

27 Gerald J. Loraine (b. 1913)

April

3 Colonel Robert F. “Bob” Sink (b. 1905) & Patrick S. “Patty” O’Keefe (b. 1926)

5 John T. “Johnny” Julian (b. 1924)

10 Renée B. E. Lemaire (b. 1914)

11 James W. Miller (b. 1924)

15 Walter S. “Smokey” Gordon Jr. (b. 1920)

20 Ronald C. “Sparky” Speirs (b. 1920)

23 Alton M. More (b. 1920)

27 Earl E. “One Lung” McClung (b. 1923) & Henry S. “Hank” Jones Jr. (b. 1924)

28 William J. “Wild Bill” Guarnere (b. 1923)

May

12 John W. “Johnny” Martin (b. 1922)

16 Edward J. “Babe” Heffron (b. 1923)

17 Joseph D. “Joe” Liebgott (b. 1915)

19 Norman S. Dike Jr. (b. 1918) & Cleveland O. Petty (b. 1924)

25 Albert L. "Al" Mampre (b. 1922)

June

2 David K. "Web" Webster (b. 1922)

6 Augusta M. Chiwy ("Anna") (b. 1921)

13 Edward D. Shames (b. 1922)

17 George Luz (b. 1921)

18 Roy W. Cobb (b. 1914)

23 Frederick T. “Moose” Heyliger (b. 1916)

25 Albert Blithe (b. 1923)

28 Donald B. "Hoob" Hoobler (b. 1922)

July

2 Gen. Anthony C. "Nuts" McAuliffe (b. 1898)

7 Francis J. “Frank” Mellet (b. 1920)

8 Thomas Meehan III (b. 1921)

9 John A. Janovec (b. 1925)

10 Robert E. “Popeye” Wynn (b. 1921)

16 William S. Evans (b. 1910)

20 James H. “Moe” Alley Jr. (b. 1922)

23 Burton P. “Pat” Christenson (b. 1922)

29 Eugene E. Jackson (b. 1922)

31 Donald G. "Don" Malarkey (b. 1921)

August

3 Edward J. “Ed” Tipper (b. 1921)

10 Allen E. Vest (b. 1924)

15 Kenneth J. Webb (b. 1920)

18 Jack E. Foley (b. 1922)

26 Floyd M. “Tab” Talbert (b. 1923) & General Maxwell D. Taylor (b. 1901)

29 Joseph A. Lesniewski (b. 1920)

31 Alex M. Penkala Jr. (b. 1924)

September

3 William H. Dukeman Jr. (b. 1921)

11 Harold D. Webb (b. 1925)

12 Major Oliver M. Horton (b. 1912)

27 Harry F. Welsh (b. 1918)

30 Lewis “Nix” Nixon III (b. 1918)

October

5 Joseph “Joe” Ramirez (b. 1921) & Ralph F. “Doc” Spina (b. 1919) & Terrence C. "Salty" Harris (b. 1920)

6 Leo D. Boyle (b. 1913)

10 William F. “Bill” Kiehn (b. 1921)

15 Antonio C. “Tony” Garcia (b. 1924)

17 Eugene G. "Doc" Roe (b. 1922)

21 Lt. Cl. David T. Dobie (b. 1912)

28 Herbert J. Suerth Jr. (b. 1924)

31 Robert "Bob" van Klinken (b. 1919)

November

11 Myron N. “Mike” Ranney (b. 1922)

20 Denver “Bull” Randleman (b. 1920)

December

12 John “Jack” McGrath (b. 1919)

31 Lynn D. “Buck” Compton (b. 1921)

Unknown Date

Joseph P. Domingus

Richard J. Hughes (b. 1925)

Maj. Louis Kent

Father John Mahoney

George C. Rice

SOURCES

Military History Fandom Wiki

Band of Brothers Fandom Wiki

Traces of War

Find a Grave

[lewis-winters]

I've heard there were supposed to be more BOB episodes before they settled on 10. What would you want another episode to cover, and who would it focus on? Similarly, if you could change the POV character for an episode, who would it be? (Dike for The Breaking Point? Harry for Carentan? Webster for Why We Fight?)

As much as I love Lewis Nixon, I do think Why We Fight should have been from Joe Liebgott's POV.

And because I love Lewis Nixon (and I myself worked in intel and love stories about the intelligence part of war), I think an additional episode in Bastogne featuring Lewis Nixon in all his Regiment S2 glory would have been great. And no, don't come at me with that "but Lew was Regiment S3 irl during his time in Bastogne" stuff-- they made up a whole episode for him! And other stuff besides! They could have made up this episode too!! and it would have been more fitting.

And I've written about it before (you'll just have to dig for it in my #bob meta tag (it was one of the first posts I ever made on this blog) bc im too lazy to go get it aldkdjkakskd), but Augusta Chiwy should have had her share of the spotlight (for lack of better term) with Renee and Eugene in episode 6. In an ideal society, she and Renee would have been a direct parallel to John Julian and Babe Heffron, periodt.

And just. I wish there was an episode that fixes the drastic tonal shift between Episode 9 and Episode 10 (again, I wrote about it before, just look in the #bob meta tag aldjfksksldk). Idk how, yet, because I haven't thought about it more than to complain, but yeah! They should have fixed that shit!

[wikiuntamed]

On this day in Wikipedia: Wednesday, 23rd August

Welcome, Benvenuta, 你好, أهلا وسهلا 🤗 What does @Wikipedia say about 23rd August through the years 🏛️📜🗓️?

23rd August 2021 🗓️ : Death - Elizabeth Blackadder Elizabeth Blackadder, Scottish painter and printmaker (b. 1931) "Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, Mrs Houston, (24 September 1931 – 23 August 2021) was a Scottish painter and printmaker. She was the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy. In 1962 she began teaching at Edinburgh College of Art where she continued until..."

Image licensed under CC BY 2.0? by Scottish Government

23rd August 2015 🗓️ : Death - Augusta Chiwy Augusta Chiwy, Congolese-Belgian nurse (b. 1921) "Augusta Marie Chiwy (6 June 1921 – 23 August 2015) was a Belgian nurse who served as a volunteer during the Siege of Bastogne in 1944. She worked with U.S. Army physician John Prior and with fellow Belgian nurse Renée Lemaire, treating injured soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge...."

Image by Embassy of the United States in Brussels, Belgium's official Facebook

23rd August 2013 🗓️ : Event - 2013 Palmasola prison riot A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people. "On August 23, 2013, a prison riot broke out at Palmasola, a maximum-security prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The riot started when members of one cell block attacked a rival gang in another, using propane tanks as flame throwers. Thirty-one people were killed, including an 18-month-old child who was..."

23rd August 1973 🗓️ : Event - Norrmalmstorg robbery A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". "The Norrmalmstorg robbery was a bank robbery and hostage crisis best known as the origin of the term Stockholm syndrome. It occurred at the Norrmalmstorg Square in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973 and was the first criminal event in Sweden to be covered by live television.Jan-Erik Olsson was a..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0? by Tage Olsin

23rd August 1923 🗓️ : Event - Captain (United States O-3) Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter perform the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. "In the United States Army (USA), U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), U.S. Air Force (USAF), and U.S. Space Force (USSF), captain (abbreviated "CPT" in the USA and "Capt" in the USMC, USAF, and USSF) is a company-grade officer rank, with the pay grade of O-3. It ranks above first lieutenant and below major. It..."

23rd August 1819 🗓️ : Death - Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (b. 1785) "Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and United States Navy Captain Christopher Raymond Perry, and older brother..."

Image by Jane Stuart

23rd August 🗓️ : Holiday - Umhlanga Day (Eswatini) "Umhlanga [um̩ɬaːŋɡa], or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi event that takes place at the end of August or at the beginning of September. In Eswatini, tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel from the various chiefdoms to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to..."

Image by Amada44

[mastersoftheair]

sorry about the sting! and i see what you mean. i threw up this semi-vent long past the time i should've been sleeping, so i didn't think about that particular intersection, the way ww2 media tends to ignore the contributions of black women during that time (not very women's history month of me). i put the rest under the cut:

i was thinking more w/in the context of the typical hbo war show (following a group of men). philip lewitski, for example, is an indigenous actor who was cast as lt. francis harper, an indigenous soldier from alaska. there's a valuable perspective there imo, since most people don't consider the contributions of indigenous american soldiers during ww2. and having lewitski there, while not doing Anything with him, felt like a missed opportunity to me. it left me wondering what the point of that was, y'know?

i was also considering the value of depicting asian american soldiers of the time, specifically the japanese-american soldiers. while the majority of those soldiers were from hawaii, a decent percentage of these guys came directly from internment camps and suffered Heavy casualty rates. that area of history shares some similarities with the black experience (there's big differences, but i'm doing broad strokes). how does it feel fighting for a country that hates you? i just think that deserves a big-budget spotlight.

in that same vein, the sikh soldiers, too. you can periodically spot them in the background of ww1/ww2 shows and movies, but they're never the focus. like they're there-ish. but what was it like for them?

i agree that not having black women in the show is a reflection how ww2 media views black women (which is, like, not at all). and GOD i wish this show had an episode Solely about the tuskegee airmen (how much could a tenth episode Possibly cost??). i'll give a reluctant half point to BoB for kinda-sorta-ish having anna in bastogne (even tho 1) she doesn't talk, 2) she exclusively exists in the background, and 3) her name isn't even anna, it's Augusta Chiwy!) but, yeah, i think it's partly bc ww2 is so male-focused to begin with, not that that should be an excuse anymore. that's why i got Super Excited when a league of their own (rip) was released bc, while it wasn't Technically about ww2 (was more about the 1940s and not crying in baseball), i was Obsessed with how an entire half of the show was devoted to a black woman's story during that time period. that shit practically Never happens (and then they killed it, but that's a rant for another time...)

which is why i'll_be_there.gif when six triple eight is released! i'm even tastefully looking past the movie's director lol. and i'm very excited about it bc it's an aspect of history that everyone forgets about, or remembers for the wrong reasons (not you calling it the mulattress movie lmaooooo). so i'd love for more directors to get with the program (willa brown biopic When?!)

on the point of including black people in the show (or any period show), a lot of the outrage can sometimes come across as performative to me. it's one thing to feel upset about how little screentime black characters get compared to white characters (a valid criticism, believe me, I Know! give me an hour and i could talk your ear off about how this constantly annoys me as a black person who's damned to enjoy period pieces), but it's another to Only get upset while not actually creating content for said black characters, Especially when fandom (not just hbo war, but in general) is famous for taking Extremely minor characters and creating entire worlds with them, to the point where you wouldn't know they're minor characters at all until you check out the source yourself. richard macon, alexander jefferson, and robert daniels each have only 20 or less posts about them (at the time of publishing this post). in my own fandom experience (within fandoms both big and small and old and new, whatever), i've seen more content (posts, art pieces, analyses, fics, etc) made for minor white characters in less than a mere week's time (it's not a competiton lol i'm just giving a perspective here). so idk. obviously, there's nothing anyone here can do about a show that's already been filmed and released. we got what we got. thas it. at least in the great wide world of fandom, you can actually do something about it, turning the big into small. there's precedent for that. otherwise it just feels like complaining for the sake of complaining

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Band of Brothers screencaps/edits (403/?)

August 23 2015: last jump

[dansssks]

A commission for a good friend, Mucca!!!! Based upon the amazing story ‘Our Daughters of Sorrow’ by @howling-harpy . I loved this…. I loved every minute of drawing these girls. 🥺

[101st-airborne-506th]

We don't talk about Augusta Chiwy enough, it's unfortunate the show didn't go into her story more. This woman deserves more recognition for her contribution during the battle of the bulge.

[chucklerjuergens]

‘I can feel the change a-coming Freedom drums in the distance, they are drumming’

Augusta Chiwy

[ruinsrebuilt]

the angels of bastogne. 

(i.)

[blood-mocha-latte]

11, 13 and 14

11 - songs that you associate with a certain character?

another answer here but also human by daughter is toye in bastogne to ME. is it because i'm insane? mayhaps... but i think it more likely that it's because it's real actually

i could go on. i could also start biting people

13 - what inspires you to create in the fandom?

yet again, i have to give it all to mah wife (borat voice). she sorts through my shit, corrects all my shit, figures out why i'm stuck and can't move on from my shit, and does so willingly and happily. because she's truly the best of all time. also pray for her. she finished the pacific yesterday and i think she's liable to kill someone

14 - your fav underrated character?

oh GOD you make me choose.......... you make me decide between my darlings.......

i must go augusta chiwy/anna. she's everything to me she deserves more everyone should love her forever and ever

~ hbowar positivity asks ~

[fashionontheration]

As much as we love to romanticize the encounter between Renee Lemaire and Doc Roe, the real ‘Angel of Bastogne’ was Augusta Chiwy. I highly urge all Band of Brothers fans to look up this amazing woman and learn more about her selflessness and dedication that helped save the lives of so many men.

[happymuglightnerd]

Anna and Albert part 6

Anna’s point of view I went to look for Renee who was with her husband Eugene and they had 2 daughters Riley and Sabrina  ‘’RENEE RENEE WHERE ARE YOU?! I shouted Renee came running ‘’I am here Anna’’ she replied ‘’Renée tu ne devineras jamais ce qui m��est arrivé’’ I tell her ‘’Que s’est-il passé?’’ she asks ‘’Albert er...’’ before I could tell her she interupted me ‘’DiD ER TRENNT SICH VON DIR?!’’ ‘’N-nee nog beter HIJ VROEG ME OM MET HEM TE TROUWEN’’ I sqealed ‘’DAT IS GOED NIEUWS!!!’’ Renee screamed she huged my so tightly ‘’What are we doing we must get ready for the wedding I can’t wait to tell Lena’’ She said excitedly ‘’ Woah one step at a time’’ I tell her ‘’Better late then sorry’’ Renee replied

[lewis-winters]

tumblr nuked my answer to your ask @ronsparky ANYWAY--

9. worst part of canon

I've talked about this at length here, here, here, here, and here!

and I had another post about why I don't like the tonal shift between ep.9 and ep. 10 of bob but I can't find it so I'll get back to you on that!!

but yeah. I'm still salty about the Augusta Chiwy thing. like. it's like the BoB writers didn't even try 🙄🙄🙄 oops, maybe they didn't. I mean, they were already operating on the logic that if Stephen Ambrose didn't bother to exercise proper historical research, why should they? 🙄🙄🙄

10. worst part of fanon

because fanfiction is the medium in which I interact the most with fandom, the ills of it are the ones I encounter the most. some of ya'll don't know proper characterization if it bit you in the ass. it's like. did we even watch the same show? each one has 10 episodes each!! how could you POSSIBLY get any of this wrong????

sometimes, you read a fic, and already you can tell the author has an agenda just by how terribly wrong a fic is. they villainize random boys so much to make others look better. the amount of times I go "he would NOT say that!" is infinity.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

ensemble fics with stupid grp of friends level shenanigans. exploration of platonic relationships fics (though there are a few of these already that I really like, I want more). queer platonic relationships. POC OCs; asexual, aromantic, lesbian, and trans OCs. there are a few already that I very much like, I know this. I have a trans OC myself. idc. I want more.

.......... honestly sometimes I get the feeling that some hbo war writers are afraid to make aroace OCs, trans OCs or POC OCs bc they themselves are cis, allosexual/alloromantic, or white and therefore they might get it wrong. to which I say banish the thought and EXPLORE, damnit.

also like. let's trans some genders. I've said this before. but I think. we should be allowed!! to trans some dead american soldier's genders. more transmasc paratroopers!! more transmasc marines!! c'mon now.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

lewis nixon's alcoholism. my dude. apart from dick winters, EVERYBODY was an alcoholic, ok? harry welsh had to be dragged out of enemy fire bc he was passed out drunk in the middle of the road. they were ALL alcoholic. ALL of them.

I'm not saying stop exploring lewis nixon as an alcoholic, oh no. I love that shit. I'm saying start exploring EVERYONE ELSE as an alcoholic. could be fun!

[silentambassadors]

Repose en paix, Augusta Chiwy.  I wish I could post a beautiful commemorative stamp depicting Ms. Chiwy (“The Forgotten Angel of Bastogne”), but alas, thus far the Belgian Post and USPS have failed me (as too often happens, particularly w/r/t women and/or people of color subjects).  But let’s take a moment to remember Augusta Chiwy, daughter of a Belgian veterinarian and his Congolese wife, who, during the Battle of of the Bulge, worked first with her doctor uncle to aid the soldiers injured as the Nazis advanced, and then volunteered as a nurse with the United States of American Army division stationed there, sometimes even donning an Army uniform to collect wounded soldiers from the battlefield.  The aid station was attacked on Christmas Eve 1944, and despite getting blown through a wall, Nurse Chiwy continued to assist the United States of Americans, and eventually, post-war, worked at a hospital treating spinal injuries, married a Belgian doctor, had two children, and lived in obscurity before her story was uncovered and she was tracked down in a nursing home by Martin King while he was researching for his Voices of the Bulge: Untold Stories from Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge (2011).  Chiwy was subsequently honored by the Belgian government, the United States Department of the Army, and her hometown of Bastogne.  Finally.  She died on this date in 2015 at the age of 94.

Stamp details: Issued on: June 6, 1994 From: Washington, DC SC #2838j