PORTRAIT FOR BOSTON: VETERANS BY BILL BRETT
QUINCY — Mildred R. (Moulton) Cox has had a lot to celebrate in 2024. One of the first women to join the US Marine Corps and a veteran of World War II, Millie, as she is known, was 20 years old when she joined the corps to serve her country. She’s still going strong. As she has inscribed on her notepaper: “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Millie was celebrated in March 2024 at a party at Bay Pointe Restaurant in Quincy on the occasion of her 100th birthday, surrounded by her family – which includes eight children, 17 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. And the city recognized her in August 2024 when Quincy and state officials gathered with military veterans for the dedication ceremony of the Lone Sailor statue at the Quincy Navy Park, an area that has a rich history of supporting the country’s war efforts, including building 20 destroyers in World War I alone.
When asked about her service, Millie told those gathered: “I saw a call to duty and I answered it.”
She and her husband, William, split their time between Quincy and Marco Island, FL. He died in 2017. Will, as he was known, also was a World War II veteran, having served as a boatswains mate, second class, in the US Navy.
The couple met when they were 15 years old at the old “Picklejar” building on Carson Beach in South Boston, where they both grew up. They were high school seniors when World War II broke out. Will joined the Navy. Millie, whose father served in World War I, joined the Marines as a stenographer. They got engaged in 1945 and, after their wedding, started their family in Quincy. They celebrated their 90th birthdays with a big celebration in Quincy.
Millie stayed home with their children and later worked for the Quincy Public Schools, where she was president of the secretaries, and in her 60s, was clerk in the Quincy veterans services office, retiring in 1990, according to The Patriot Ledger.
Photo of Millie Cox by Bill Brett for “Boston: Veterans,” Bill’s seventh book, due to be published in early 2025.