Photo courtesy of the Daily Mail a UK publication
According to CNN… …The country’s oldest known living veteran, Emma Didlake, died Sunday, just one month after being honored by President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. Didlake was 110-years-old.
“Emma Didlake served her country with distinction and honor, a true trailblazer for generations of Americans who have sacrificed so much for their country,” Obama said in a statement released Monday. “I was humbled and grateful to welcome Emma to the White House last month, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to Emma’s family, friends, and everyone she inspired over her long and quintessentially American life.”
According to Military. Com magazine
Emma Didlake likes to say she always was one for getting into something, but she had no idea of what a big deal it was when she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1943.
A lot of Americans didn’t like the idea of women stepping into roles that had been reserved for men, especially if those jobs took them to war. But then there was the fact that she was black in a segregated society. “I didn’t know I was breaking barriers,” said Didlake, who turned 110 on March 13,
According to the Detroit Free Press…
White House last month. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to Emma’s family, friends, and everyone she inspired over her long and quintessentially American life.”
Didlake went on a whirlwind tour of the nation’s capital on July 17. She met withPresident Obama in the Oval Office, who praised her accomplishments and her service while media snapped photos.
“It’s a great reminder of not only the sacrifices the greatest generation made on our behalf but also the kind of trailblazing that our women veterans made, African American veterans who helped to integrate our Armed Services,” he said at the time. He added, “We are very, very proud of them.”
When Didlake was 38 and a mother of five, she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) during World War II. She served stateside for about seven months during the war, as a private and driver.
She flew to Washington much more recently thanks to Talons Out Honor Flight, the Kalamazoo-based branch of a national network that arranges free-of-charge flights for veterans, especially those from WWII, to visit the memorials dedicated to the wars they fought in.
During her tour, Didlake also saw the World War II Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.
After her meeting with Obama, Didlake, who is a bit hard of hearing, had little to say. But when her granddaughter asked her if it was “fantastic,” her grandmother beamed like a schoolgirl, saying, “Yeah.”
Funeral services for Emma Didlake, a longtime Detroiter and America’s oldest living veteran, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, at Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 441 Monroe Street, Detroit.
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