'I knew kids would die, so I did my best'

The “Angel of Mostar”, Pride Of Britain winner Sally Becker, tells us about her lifesaving work rescuing children caught in war zones

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Watching the beautiful young woman glide down the aisle in New York, Sally Becker couldn't help but reflect on the day she first met the bride, Selma Handzar.

It was 1993 in east Mostar in the midst of the Bosnian war and British humanitarian Sally was calming two frightened children with horrific injuries.

“We were in the basement of a hospital. Selma was 10 and just had her arm amputated; her little brother Mirza had lost part of his foot - they had been playing out when there was an explosion from a grenade,” she recalls.

With only enough anaesthetic for one, Selma insisted her brother have it. “She told me, ‘Don’t worry, I’m fine!’ Later, we managed to get both children and their mum to the US.

“I knew that day that helping children like Selma and Mirza was what I wanted to do.”

Sally, nicknamed the “Angel of Mostar”, went on to save thousands of lives from a myriad of global war zones over the next 32 years.

And now 63-year-old Sally’s humanitarian work has been recognised with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Daily Mirror Pride Of Britain Awards, with P&O Cruises.

“I am very proud to be British, so having an award that said Britain is proud of me is just wonderful,” said Sally. “Looking back over the past three decades, I’m grateful to have been able to play a small part in helping to save children’s lives.

“The real inspiration though comes from the incredible resilience of the children and the families I've met.”

Plea for help

In 1993, Sally was watching a news report from Bosnia, which was in the midst of its devastating civil war.

“It featured a woman in Sarajevo trying to cross the road with her little boy; there were bodies everywhere,” said Sally, who was then working as an artist.