Belgian WWII nurse who helped save many US troops dies

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, Belgian nurse Augusta Chiwy gestures after receiving an award for valor from the U.S. Army, in Brussels. Chiwy who helped save hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II has died, she was 94. A service of burial will be held in the town of Bastogne, southeast Belgium on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, Belgian nurse Augusta Chiwy, center, receives an award for valor from the U.S. Army, in Brussels. Chiwy who helped save hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II has died, she was 94. A service of burial will be held in the town of Bastogne, southeast Belgium on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File) (The Associated Press)

BRUSSELS – A Belgian nurse who helped save hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II has died. She was 94.

Augusta Chiwy died on Sunday and will be buried in the town of Bastogne, southeast Belgium on Saturday following a civilian and military ceremony, according to her family.

The Battle of the Bulge came during the final stages of World War II when Adolf Hitler launched a major offensive against Allied forces. About 80,000 American soldiers were killed, captured or wounded.

Chiwy volunteered in 1944 to assist in an aid station in Bastogne, where wounded and dying U.S. soldiers in their thousands were being treated by a single doctor.

She received a Belgian knighthood and a U.S award for valor in 2011.