Renée Lemaire (1914-1944) was a Belgian nurse who volunteered her service at an American military aid station during the

Siege of Bastogne The siege of Bastogne () was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to r ...

in December 1944. She was killed during a German air raid on Christmas Eve in 1944.

Early life

Renée Bernadette Émilie Lemaire was born on 10 April 1914 in

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, ...

to Gustave Lemaire and Bertha Gallée. Her parents owned a hardware store in Bastogne. She had two sisters, Gisèle and Marguerite. Lemaire had been a nurse in Brussels during the war. Renée Lemaire was the fiancée of a Jew arrested in Brussels by the Gestapo earlier in the year.

World War II

In December 1944, Renée Lemaire returned to Bastogne to visit her parents, and was trapped when the Germans launched their Ardennes offensive on December 16, 1944. Along with nurse

Augusta Chiwy Augusta Marie Chiwy (6 June 1921 – 23 August 2015) was a Belgian nurse who was a volunteer during the Siege of Bastogne in 1944. She worked with the U.S. Army physician John Prior and with fellow Belgian nurse Renée Lemaire, treating injured s ...

, she volunteered at an aid station for the American 20th Armored Infantry Battalion on December 21, 1944. In a commendation request from Battalion Surgeon Dr. Jack T. Prior, Lemaire was described as "cheerfully accepted the Herculean task and worked without adequate rest or food...", that she "changed dressings, fed patients unable to feed themselves, gave out medications, bathed and made the patients more comfortable...", and "her very presence among those wounded men seem to be an inspiration to those whose morale had declined from prolonged suffering." On December 24, 1944, around 8:30PM, Germans bombed the building where the aid station was located. According to a column in a Belgian newspaper, the aid station in the basement of the Sarma Store on rue de Neufchateau was demolished. Lemaire managed to evacuate six soldiers from the burning building, but died while attempting to save a seventh wounded. Dr. Prior recovered her remains, and brought them back to her parents wrapped in a white parachute.

''Band of Brothers''

In the '' Band of Brothers'' episode "

", a Belgian nurse named Renée (portrayed by

Lucie Jeanne Lucie Jeanne (born 13 March 1976) is a French television actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media su ...

) and a Congolese nurse named Anna (portrayed by Rebecca Okot) were shown working tirelessly with American medics, including Eugene Roe, to help wounded soldiers. Historical accounts of Lemaire do not mention Roe.

References

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