Joy, 99, survived war, assassin’s bid, breast cancer... & now Covid

A WOMAN aged 99 who survived a Nazi assassination attempt, a plane crash and breast cancer has now beaten coronavirus.

Joy Andrew contracted Covid-19 in her care home in May and nurses feared she would die.

Her daughter

Michele Andrew, 57, even visited to say her “final farewell” but she recovered.

Michele said:

“She wasn’t going to let coronavirus defeat her.

“My mum has always been a very feisty woman.

“She takes things in her stride, like a lot of people who lived through the war. Unfortunately dementia prevents her from recognising her achievement.”

Joy was born and raised in North

London in the 1920s before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force as a sergeant. After the war she joined the British Army of The Rhine, an occupation force in Germany. She lodged in Dusseldorf with a couple whose daughter was a Nazi.

Michele said Joy, who was from a German Jewish family, was allocated a driver who purposely crashed in an attempt to kill her.

She said: “She still bears the scar on her face from the attempt. The driver was arrested and turned out to be a Nazi.”

Joy later joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation as one of the first air hostesses – but was on a flight which crashed in Libya.

In the 1970s Joy defeated breast cancer but lost her husband David to cancer in 2013.

Michele then moved her mum from St Albans, Herts, to York, where she now lives in the home. She said: “Her life hung in the balance as she was nursed by a team. One of Joy’s carers courageously returned to work after contracting coronavirus. I admire her bravery.”