In this July 17, 2015, file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Emma Didlake, 110, of Detroit, the oldest known World War II veteran, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The Michigan woman who was believed to be the nation’s oldest veteran has died a month after meeting the president. The Oakland County medical examiner’s office says Didlake died Sunday, Aug. 16 in West Bloomfield, northwest of Detroit. (Photo by Evan Vucci/AP FILE PHOTO)
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan — A woman who was believed to be the oldest US veteran at 110 has died, about a month after meeting President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
Emma Didlake died Sunday in Michigan, northwest of Detroit, according to a medical examiner’s office.
Didlake was a 38-year-old wife and mother of five when she signed up in 1943 for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She served about seven months stateside during the war, as a private and driver.
She spent time with the president in July during a trip to Washington that was arranged by Talons Out Honor Flight, a southwest Michigan chapter of a nonprofit that provides free, one-day trips for veterans to visit monuments and memorials in the US capital.
“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 Monday afternoon in a statement. “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.”
Didlake was born in Alabama and moved with her family to Detroit in 1944. She was known to her family as “Big Mama” and recently moved to an assisted living family in suburban Detroit.
She was deemed the oldest US veteran based on information gleaned by Honor Flight representatives through national outreach campaigns.
Granddaughter Marilyn Horne told The Associated Press last month that when Talons Out officials presented her grandmother with a short-sleeved shirt bearing the group’s logo to wear on the trip to Washington, Didlake took a look and said: “‘I don’t have Michelle Obama arms — I’m going to need a jacket.'”
During her visit to the White House, Didlake wore a patriotic-themed neck scarf and sat in her wheelchair in the same spot in the White House where foreign leaders sit when they meet with Obama.