Oldest woman veteran dies in San Antonio

Vice President Joe Biden visits with World War II veteran Lucy Coffey during her visit to the capital in July. Coffey died at the age of 108 Thursday. Vice President Joe Biden visits with World War II veteran Lucy Coffey during her visit to the capital in July. Coffey died at the age of 108 Thursday. Photo: Lawrence Jackson /The White House Photo: Lawrence Jackson /The White House Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oldest woman veteran dies in San Antonio 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Lucy Coffey, the nation's oldest woman veteran, died Thursday morning in San Antonio. She was 108.

Coffey met Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama last summer in the White House as part of a final visit she wanted to make to Washington, D.C.

She put on the uniform in 1943.

“I am so honored to have met this incredible lady,” Bexar County veterans service officer Queta Marquez said, in announcing Coffey's death Thursday afternoon. “She was truly a pioneer, and full of life and spunk.”

A small-town girl from a farm in Martinsville, Indiana, Coffey was working at an A&P supermarket in Dallas when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. She quit the store and joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, settling in San Antonio after a decade in Japan following the end of the war.

Last summer, Coffey met Biden for a half-hour in the West Wing and also received a surprise visit from the president.

“We spent some time together and, you know, I know she doesn’t speak, but she spoke to me, ” Biden said.

Coffey had a simple reason for joining the Honor Flight, an all-expense paid salute to World War II veterans.

“I’d like to go to see things that are there that were not there before, ” she explained. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Washington, but I would like to go to see the things that are there.”

Find more at ExpressNews.com or in Friday’s San Antonio Express-News.