America's 'Oldest Veteran' Tours Capital, Meets President

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A West Bloomfield woman who is believed to be the nation’s oldest living veteran, 110-year-old Emma Didlake, had a brief sit-down with President Barack Obama during a whirlwind tour of the nation’s capital Friday.

“We are so grateful that she is here with us today,” the president said, speaking to the media. “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.”

Didlake was a 38-year-old wife and mother of five when she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1943. An African-American, she “really forged a new path for women and minorities,” Talons Out Honor Flight co-founder Dan Moyle told The Detroit News.

Moyle said he and others at Talons Out, the Michigan chapter of the national Honor Flight Network, heard Didlake’s story decided it was important to give her special Honor Flight – free day trips to the nation’s capital for veterans to see war memorials recognizing their service.

“She broke so many barriers as a woman back in those days,” Moyle told WJBK,TV. “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.”

Obama told reporters Didlake “helped integrate our armed services.”

“We are very, very proud of them,” the president said. “That’s why we gotta make sure we do right by them.”

During the war, Didlake served as a stateside driver with the rank of private, according to media reports. After she was honorably discharged, and she and her family moved to Detroit.

“Big Mama,” as Dildake is known, became a force in the Detroit Civil Rights Movement, marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1963. Two years ago, the Detroit chapter of the NAACP honored her with a lifetime achievement award.

While in Washington with her granddaughter, Marilyn Horne, Didlake also visited the Women’s Memorial, which is dedicated to women who served in the military; the World War II Memorial; and a memorial to her favorite president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. She attended a changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.

Horne told reporters her great-grandmother was excited about the trip, but was worried about what to wear.

“It was supposed to be a short sleeve shirt,” Hone told WJBK. “But we decided to give her a blouse, she’s going to have her arms covered up because she says she doesn’t have ‘Michelle Obama arms, so she cannot go there with short sleeves on. She said that’s not happening.”

Horne said she and other family members are pleased Didlake is being honored now instead of posthumously.

“As they say, get your roses while you’re here,” Horne said. “As opposed to waiting until she’s gone and saying ‘she did this, she did that,’ she gets to hear all of that stuff now.”

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Screenshot via CBS News