At 100-years old, retired Marine Col. Julia Hamblet, the longest-serving director of the women's branch of the Marines, died Monday at a nursing home in Williamsburg,  Virginia, according to the Washington Post. She was 100 years old.

Hamblet's military service that began with the U.S. Information Service, where she worked for six years. In 1943, she became one of the first women to be commissioned officers during World War II, a decision that would take her from being the adjutant to Col. Katherine A. Towle, director of Women Marines, to being decorated with the Legion of Merit.

By the end of World War II, Hamblet had commanded 2,600 women in the aviation group. In 1946, she became the director of the Women's Reserve.

In 1953, Hamblet became the director of Women Marines, a position she would hold until 1959 when, according to the Washington Post, she voluntarily stepped down claiming she was "blocking other women officers for promotion." 

She retired from the Marine Corps in 1965, but never stopped serving the nation. She began her new civilian life with a position working at the U.S. Office of Education (now the Department of Education). After 13 years, she retired to Alexandria, Virginia, where she volunteered with the American Red Cross and the YWCA.

Rachael Kalinyak is an editorial intern with Network Solutions.

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