Emma Didlake; oldest veteran passes
From MSN comes the sad, but not unexpected news that Emma Didlake, who was feted at the White House last month for being the oldest living veteran passed on Sunday. She was 110-years-old.
With the deaths of Coffey and Didlake, the oldest known veteran of the war is Richard Overton, a Bastrop County native. He was born three days before Coffey in May 1906.
Like Didlake, he, too, is black. Both stepped into roles that had been reserved for white men in a highly segregated society.
“I didn’t know I was breaking barriers,” said Didlake, who turned 110 on March 13 and received more than 250 birthday cards. “But I enjoyed doing what I was doing because I had committed myself to do just this.”
From an earlier MSNBC article;
Didlake was born in Boligee, Alabama in 1905. She was a 38-year-old wife and mother of five when she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1943.
Making the decision to join the army was a bold move for the veteran from the segregated south, during a period where many women remained at home. During her service, she held the rank of Private and served for seven months stateside as a driver.
Category: Veterans in the news
Good for her. She did what was needed without thinking twice about it.
R.I.P., Emma. You earned it.
Thank you for your service Miss Emma. Rest in peace.
Rest now in peace, Miss Emma. Thank you.
There will always be an oldest Veteran.
I do not see how this lady broke any barriers at all. What I find very unusual about her story is that she left her five children to join the Army.
thank you for your service ma’am
Rest Well……
Off Topic:
Were there a lot of men serving as drivers in the Women’s Auxiliary?
On topic:
May she rest in peace after a century and a decade roaming the world…
VOV. Even if we the roles refer to the Army, and not the all-female WACs, it still doesn’t make sense. The talking point for MSNBC and MSN was clearly race, not her status as a Veteran. I wonder whether the barrier she broke through had anything to do with her Army job, as a driver.
My 98 year old stepmother, ALMA CAPPS MALLERNEE, currently residing in Assisted Living at Heritage House in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was the 104th woman to enlist in the newly created Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (i.e., the “WAAC”), which later became the Women’s Army Corps (i.e., the “WAC”), and spent the Second World War in Florida, watching for enemy aircraft.
http://writesong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-stepmother-alma-capps-mallernee.html
I remember when the requirements for female recruits was MUCH stricter than for male recruits, and a mother with children at home would not have been permitted to enlist.
Excellent read, John. Truth be told, Alma has been a Veteran LONGER than Emma Didlake was! That’s because Emma went in when she was nearly 40. Great pics. Thanks.