Marie Odee Johnson
Marie Odee Johnson (July 23, 1897 – September 25, 2004) was an American who was one of the last surviving female veterans from the First World War. As a Yeoman (F), Johnson was among the first group of women to serve in the United States Navy in a non-nursing capacity.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
Biography
Marie Odee Johnson was born in Quincy, Illinois, but her family moved to Dallas, Texas, when she was an infant.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> She was serving as a secretary with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Dallas when the United States entered World War I.<ref name=":1" /> Two of her brothers joined the Armed Forces and her sister was a Red Cross Nurse.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> The Navy recruiting office was near her office and the men who worked there convinced her that she would have a better job in the Navy.<ref name=":0" /> Johnson joined up at age 20.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She didn't tell her "single parent father" that she joined at first.<ref name=":2" /> However, when she told her father that "he'd have to put a fourth star in the window" he congratulated her.<ref name=":3" />
Johnson was one of 12,000 women (other than nurses) who worked for the Navy "handling clerical duties in the United States to free men for fighting."<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref> Johnson was stationed in New York City and Washington, D. C. during the war.<ref name=":0" /> She recalls that there were no facilities or barracks for women in the Navy at the time and so she and the other Yeomen were given $90 a month for room and board on top of their $30 a month salary.<ref name=":0" />
She returned to her job with the FBI in Dallas afterwards.<ref name=":0" /> In 1926, she married Edward C. Johnson, a World War I veteran of the Army, and they had one daughter, Marilyn, together.<ref name=":0" /> Edward Johnson died in 1948.<ref name=":1" /> In 1997, she was interviewed for Life Magazine.<ref name=":3" />
Johnson moved into the Transitional Care Unit in the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 1998.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was "the acknowledged 'queen bee' of the veterans' facility.<ref name=":1" /> Johnson died in her sleep in at the age of 107. She was the last female World War I Veterans in North Texas when she died.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>