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0145-W2M-05/2004
Daisy Patricia Griffin Kime
Sergeant
U. S. Marines
WWII US Military
Dates of Service: 10/27/1944 - 12/28/1945
Military Travel Information Specialist
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Born in Shreveport, Daisy Griffin lived there until the Depression, when her father lost his job and their home. They moved to her grandfather's farm near Frieson, Louisiana, where she picked cotton as a young child. The family later returned to Shreveport where she graduated from Fair Park High School in 1941. She was hired at Barksdale Field in 1942 in the quartermaster department, making $105 a month until "1943 or 1944." She then traveled with a friend to "help her with the baby" on a train trip to Boise, Idaho, where her friend's husband was stationed. Daisy went to work at the air base, and then joined The Marine Corps Women Reserves, and went on active duty. After basic training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, she was ordered to Washington, D.C., and promoted to sergeant. She served as a typist there, and then was sent to Portsmouth Shipyards in Portsmouth, Virginia. There she worked in an information booth to help facilitate train travel for sailors and Marines. She met her future husband, Dwayne Kime, in nearby Norfolk when he returned from Europe severely wounded. "We saw each other daily and developed a romantic relationship," she recalls. They were married in Shreveport on December 5, 1945. Both attended Centenary College for about two years. Dwayne then worked as a rural mail carrier while Daisy was employed at the Veterans Administration, Social Security, and in the U.S. Marshall's office. She later worked for the U.S. Justice Department for fifteen years, and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work. After retiring she has worked for the Reach Out and Read Program, and has received several state and national awards for her volunteer work.