YURI GRIPAS/REUTERS Emma Didlake, 110, was honored at the White House Friday by President Obama as the oldest living American veteran. She is African American and she signed up at age 38 after having five children. During her service, she held the rank of Private and served for seven months stateside as a driver. She traveled to Washington with Talons Out Honor Flight, a Waterford Township, Michigan-based chapter of a nonprofit group that sponsors one-day trips to the capitol for veterans. “It is a great reminder not only of the sacrifices the greatest generation made on our behalf, but the kind of trailblazing that our women veterans made”. “Especially as a minority woman, we really wanted to honor her with a visit with the president because it’s an honor for him to meet her”. As we can see from the above video, Didlake looked wonderful as she enjoyed her time at the White House. After she was honorably discharged, and she and her family moved to Detroit.
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But Friday, Emma Didlake added something new to her list: meeting the president.
She joined the local NAACP chapter and marched in Washington, D.C., with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.in 1963. Roosevelt, her favorite president. She is the oldest living US veteran.
Horne said her grandmother, a licensed hair dresser born in Boligee, Alabama, in 1905, is losing her vision and hearing, but “her mind is excellent”. She joked that whatever she wore, it had to be long sleeves to cover her arms since she did not have arms like First Lady Michelle Obama.
Horne, Didlake’s granddaughter, said Didlake fell a couple weeks ago, which put the trip in question.
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So is her sense of humor.
