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Monday afternoon, the president released a statement about her passing, saying she “served her country with distinction and honor”. The Oakland County medical examiner’s office says Emma Didlake died Sunday in West Bloomfield, northwest of Detroit.
Nearly a month to the day of her meeting with President Obama, the Michigan woman believed to be the nation’s oldest veteran has died.
“And it’s a great reminder of not only the sacrifices that 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”, Obama said. She served seven-months during WWII in 1943 when she was 38 as a private and driver. In addition to her Oval Office photo op, she also visited a memorial devoted to her hero, the World War II President Franklin Roosevelt. “Michelle and I ship our deepest condolences to Emma’s household, buddies, and everybody she impressed over her lengthy and quintessentially American life”.
Didlake, who was born in 1905, was visiting Washington, D.C., for her Honor Flight, provided by the Honor Flight Network. She marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.in 1963. In 2013, she was awarded the James Weldon Johnson lifetime achievement award by the chapter.
Didlake had visited President Barack Obama at the White House a month ago.
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Didlake went on a whirlwind tour of the nation’s capital on July 17.
