HARI SREENIVASAN:

Coffey also visited the women's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and the National World War II Memorial, where she met fellow veteran and former Senator Bob Dole.

Coffey was one of about 400,000 women who served in uniform during World War II.

The jobs that women have been allowed to do have dramatically changed since then.

In January of 2013, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta formally lifted rules that excluded women from ground combat — a change that recognized the danger that many women have faced in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.