{"id":68847,"date":"2020-09-24T04:10:48","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T04:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/24\/oldest-living-marine-veteran-turns-107\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:07:30","slug":"oldest-living-marine-veteran-turns-107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/2020\/09\/24\/oldest-living-marine-veteran-turns-107\/","title":{"rendered":"Oldest living Marine veteran turns 107"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Dorothy Schmidt Cole joined the Marine Corps in July 1943, she wasn\u2019t thinking about the impact her service would have on the Corps or on generations of women to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She just wanted that stylish uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI loved the hats we were wearing,\u201d Cole said in a call with Marine Corps Times on Monday. \u201cIt was fun when I got the first complete Marine outfit. I loved it very much and felt right at home with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Marine Corps wasn\u2019t Cole\u2019s first choice. She initially wanted to join the Navy \u2014 for its hats \u2014 but was told she was too short.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2020\/01\/15\/valentines-wanted-104-year-old-iwo-jima-marine-veteran-wants-one-thing-this-valentines-day\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/24463607603_830615806b_k.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Valentines wanted: 104-year-old Iwo Jima Marine veteran wants one thing this Valentine\u2019s Day<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">\u201cI\u2019ll save every one of them like I\u2019ve been saving little things that have come up until right now and they\u2019ll be a personal part of my history.&quot;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while she downplayed her reason for joining, Cole also said her decision was influenced by the community in her hometown of Warren, Pennsylvania, and the longing for a sense of purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were women volunteering with the Red Cross and knitting while sitting in church, so I thought I had to do something,\u201d Cole said. \u201cAt the time, I didn\u2019t think I was doing anything great. I knew I was helping our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Cole found out she was accepted into the Marine Corps Women\u2019s Reserve, she thought she should learn to fly first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe had a small airport in Warren and I decided to try some flying,\u201d Cole said. \u201cIt was just some little Piper Cub I went in and I got about 200 hours of flying time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the end of 1944, only 40 women had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2016\/03\/22\/house-votes-to-allow-arlington-interments-for-female-wwii-pilots\/\" target=_blank>permitted to fly noncombat missions<\/a> with the Women Airforce Service Pilots. And the Marine Corps wouldn\u2019t see its first <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.defense.gov\/news\/newsarticle.aspx?id=29276\" target=_blank>female pilot until 1995<\/a>. During World War II, women weren\u2019t allowed to hold many of the jobs men could in the military, but Cole just wanted to learn something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI thought that it would impress the Marine Corps, but it didn\u2019t,\u201d Cole said. \u201cI just landed on my old typewriter. The girls now, they have an open field with what they can do, so it\u2019s gotten better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time Cole enlisted, the Marine Corps Women\u2019s Reserve had already been training female Marines for about five months. By April 1943, some 525 women were entering training every two weeks, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.womenmarines.org\/wm-history\" target=_blank>Women Marines Association<\/a>. By February 1944, one year after enlistment was opened to females, some 15,000 women had signed up and were placed in 200 different assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019 there were 613 female Marines and sailors serving in units previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2019\/12\/06\/60-more-female-marines-sailors-serving-in-previously-all-male-units-corps-says\/\" target=_blank>only available to men<\/a>. The Marine Corps opened ground combat jobs to women in 2016 and have been recently looking for more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2020\/02\/25\/first-female-infantry-marine-officer-leaves-corps-as-commandant-calls-for-more-women-at-infantry-officer-course\/\" target=_blank>female infantry officers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWomen Marines have served at every rank up to lieutenant general, leading and making Marines,\u201d said Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Joseph Butterfield in a Monday email to Marine Corps Times. \u201cMarines like Sgt. Cole helped pave the way for this continued tradition of service and sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cole spent six weeks in boot camp at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before being transferred to a firing range in Quantico, Virginia, where she spent two years typing correspondence for officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was kind of a tough time and we were not welcomed too well by many of the men in the service,\u201d Cole said. \u201cBut they got over it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cole said she and the other women Marines would be called \u201call sorts of names by a certain amount of men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was a bit of harassment, but everybody got over it and went about their business,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe got our work done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked whether she felt like she and the other women Marines of her time had a part in shaping history or influencing current female Marines, she said \u201cI suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cole spoke of a recent acquaintance she made through a family friend. She said the two haven\u2019t met yet, but 21-year-old Kate, an active duty Marine stationed in Okinawa, made her a beaded bracelet out of Japanese clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s very beautiful,\u201d Cole said. \u201cI enjoy wearing it and looking at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cole turned 107 on Saturday, making her the oldest living Marine, according to the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Dorothy Schmidt Cole joined the Marine Corps in July 1943, she wasn\u2019t thinking about the impact her service would have on the Corps or on generations of women to come. She just wanted that stylish uniform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3341],"class_list":["post-68847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IQ3M7CV75FEZRMPECERYS4XABE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/09\/24\/oldest-living-marine-veteran-turns-107\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Oldest living Marine veteran turns 107 - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Dorothy Schmidt Cole joined the Marine Corps in July 1943, she wasn\u2019t thinking about the impact her service would have on the Corps or on generations of women to come. 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