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103-year-old WWII U.S. Navy veteran reflects on her long career
Veterans Day Profile: Retired U.S. Navy Reserves Commander Florence "Flip" Coyne McDonald has a sharp mind and a quick laugh when she talks about her service in the Navy during World War II when . She's 103-years-old and grew up in Gretna, Louisiana before traveling the world and finally settling down in the San Francisco Bay Area.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Florence "Flip" Coyne McDonald is one of a very special group of veterans; the 103-year-old woman is one of tens of thousands of women who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
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And on Wednesday – Veterans Day – she sat down with KTVU to reflect on her own history and life-breaking barriers.
McDonald grew up across the Mississippi from New Orleans in Gretna, Louisiana.
"I can talk like that, but I don't often do it," McDonald said with a chuckle.
Her accent is on instant recall, like many of her memories. She graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans.
"My degree was a Bachelor of Arts with a major in mathematics," McDonald said. "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in the small city where I grew up, so the armed services gave me the opportunity to travel around the world. After I graduated in June 1943, a couple weeks later I joined the Navy."
Choosing the Navy
Florence was a force at a time when women had fewer career options.
She says the decision to join the Army or Navy came down to one basic thing.
"The women who joined the Army were issued khaki-colored underwear," McDonald said.
The Navy didn't care about underwear, so she signed up and was sent to Massachusetts to study meteorology.
"The Navy said, 'This is where you're going,' and I said, ‘Aye, aye.’ So I had a year of graduate school at MIT," - "Florence Coyne McDonald"
Her meteorology expertise, critical to so many missions, led her to Washington, D.C., and Japan. Along the way, she picked up her nickname, "Flip."
"When I joined the Navy, I was Florence Coyne. Well, everybody in the Navy practically gets a nickname. Well, Florence Coyne became 'Flip a coin,'" McDonald said. "Yes. I don't particularly like Florence, and I do not answer to Flo."
Flip's framed certificate in 1943 from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox refers to Florence as "him" and "his." After 20 years of service, so does her Navy retirement certificate from the 1960s.
Retired as commander
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She retired as a commander, outranking her husband, Lt. Commander Jack McDonald, a naval aviator who flew off carriers.
"I was very pleased. Very proud," she said.
Now, on this Veterans Day, looking back on a lifelong military career, Flip had one simple message for younger people.
"Do the best job you can. When you're given an order and you say, 'Aye, aye, sir,' mean it. Do the best you can," she said.
The Source: Information for this story comes from Florence "Flip" Coyne McDonald.