MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
The nation's oldest female veteran is being remembered today. Lucy Coffey was 108 years old when she died at her home in San Antonio yesterday.
DON GONYEA, HOST:
She was working at a supermarket in Dallas when she joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, but it took some determination.
QUETA MARQUEZ: She didn't actually get in until the third try. She was underweight and so she ate a lot and tried to put on some weight. When she finally was able to get enough weight on to qualify her for service, she was about to go. So it was that sheer determination.
GONYEA: That's Lucy Coffey's friend Queta Marquez, a retired Marine.
BLOCK: Coffey's service started in 1943. She was 37 years old. During the war, she rose to the rank of sergeant and traveled through the Pacific before ending up in Japan.
MARQUEZ: She did things her way. I mean, back during that time, many of the women were going into manufacturing jobs, stuff like that, so that the men could go and fight, but she wanted to go.
BLOCK: After she was discharged, Lucy Coffey worked as a civilian for the Army, first in Japan and later at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas.
GONYEA: Last summer she traveled to Washington D.C. through a program put together by Queta Marquez and other vets. Coffey saw the women's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and got a tour of the White House. President Obama and the vice president said hello.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's Joe Biden.
LUCY COFFEY: (Laughter) Hi, Joe.
BIDEN: How are you?
BLOCK: Marquez says Coffey had the time of her life on the whirlwind trip.
MARQUEZ: Because of women like her, other females have been able to serve in the military, I believe. So, you know, her place in history is significant.
BLOCK: In a statement today, President Obama praised Lucy Coffey's patriotic love of country and her pioneering spirit. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
