N Carolina African-American veteran dies at age 100

RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina woman believed to be one of the last African-American women to serve overseas during World War II has died at the age of 100.

Haywood Funeral Home in Raleigh said on its website that Millie Dunn Veasey died March 9 and will be buried Monday at Raleigh National Cemetery. Her niece, Elsie Thompson, told WUNC that her aunt’s “heart was tired.”

After she graduated from high school in 1942, Veasey enlisted in what was called the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Her unit was the only all-black, all-female battalion to serve overseas during World War II.

Veasey served in France and England with the unit, which sorted and routed mail for millions of American service members and civilians.

She later became the first female president of the Raleigh NAACP.