KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A suicide bombing near Kabul, Afghanistan, has killed the U.S. military's oldest known female soldier to die in combat, a 52-year-old woman from Waukesha, Wis.
Sgt. 1st Class Merideth Howard, a gunner on a Humvee, was on a supply run to a U.S. military base when the fiery suicide bombing killed her Sept. 8, The Chicago Tribune reports.
She worked in one of the military's civil affairs units, doing reconstruction and relief work, having been called up from the U.S. Army Reserve last December.
Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Howard became the first woman firefighter in Bryan, Texas, in 1978, the Tribune said.
She later became a fire risk-management specialist with insurance companies, eventually helping set up a consulting company in California.
She was married to Hugh Hvolboll, whom she married before going to Afghanistan after being together for 15 years.
"As a boyfriend, I would have no status with the Army," Hvolboll said. "As a husband, I did."
