It appears that our readers do enjoy some levity and local veteran trivia, so I will try to provide more local color.

The oldest living female Marine died on Veterans Day last year in Tucson. Miriam  Cohen was one of the oldest females to enlist in 1946 at the 35 years old. Miriam served in WWll and the Korean War. She moved to Tucson when she was 92, and served as the Grand Marshall of the Veterans Day Parade in 2006. Her vigor was evidenced by volunteer work at the local VA Hospital well into her 90’s.

Last year I had the honor of being at the bedside of Betty Magee, another original woman Marine, also in her 90’s who died in a local hospice. I will never forget the call that came from Richard Guthrie, a former Navy Commander and family friend of Marine Magee. Her dying request was to have a Marine in dress blues at her bedside. Within 45 minutes with the amazing power of mobility of the local recruiting office we had a woman Marine Sgt. at the foot of her bed adorned in dress blues.

An equal mobilization effort was put forth by Dan Marries at the Channel 13 who arrived at the hospice with a camera crew five minutes before all of us. Magee got her wish and it was televised on the 10pm news. She beamed with joy and passed shortly after.

As a footnote, my namesake Margaret Brewer was the first woman General of the Marine Corps.