| Dorothy Schmidt Cole | |
 | |
| Birth: | 13 September 1913 Warren, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Death: | 7 January 2021 Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA |
| Age: | 107 years, 116 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Centenarian | |
Dorothy Schmidt "Dot" Cole (19 September 1913 – 7 January 2021) was an American centenarian who was noted for being the oldest known living marine in the United States at the time of her death.
Biography[]
Dorothy Schmidt Cole was born in Warren, Pennsylvania, USA on 19 September 1913.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, Cole tried to enlist in the Navy, but was deemed too short for that because she was 4 ft 11. She decided to join the Marine Corps as a pilot. She learnt how to fly an airplane, and enlisted the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in July 1943. After six weeks of training in Camp Lejeune (situated in North Carolina), she was assigned to an administrative role in Quantico, Virginia. She later stated that she ended "behind a typewriter instead of an airplane."
After World War II, she moved to San Francisco, and married Wiley Cole. The couple had an only daughter, Beth Kluttz (born 1953). Wiley died of a heart attack in 1955. Beth Kluttz moved to North Carolina in 1976, and Cole followed her around 1979.
Dorothy Schmidt Cole died of a heart attack in the house of her daughter in Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA on 7 January 2021, at the age of 107 years, 116 days.
Gallery[]
References[]
- Oldest living US Marine celebrates 107th birthday in North Carolina Fox News, 22 September 2020
- Dorothy Schmidt Cole, oldest living Marine, dies at 107 AP News, 15 January 2021
- Oldest US Marine, Dorothy Schmidt Cole, dies aged 107 Insider, 16 January 2021