Vivian Bailey skydived for the first time in her life on Sunday, accomplishing a goal she has long sought to cross off her bucket list, according to local news outlet WJLA.

The 102-year-old WWII veteran from Maryland was able to take the plunge thanks to the Honor Flight Heroes TV series organized by Discovery Networks' American Heroes Channel.

The network was doing an episode chronicling her life as a Black woman in the U.S. Army during World War II when she told them that she had always wanted to go skydiving.

She said she wanted to do it because of former President George H.W. Bush, who celebrated his 90th birthday by skydiving in 2014.

"The thing I'd like to do is do a parachute jump like President Bush did. I was inspired by the fact that he did it. The fact that a person at that age could do the jump," Bailey said, adding that she never did because it was too costly.

The production company behind the show decided to cover the costs for her to go, and they brought members of her family, friends and community members to come see her take the leap.

"It was wonderful, a real thrill! I was scared for one minute, it felt like I was tumbling and then I thought, somebody is holding onto me," Bailey said.

Bailey told WJLA that she was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and had to live through the horrors of segregation at the time.

She eventually joined the army because Black people were often denied jobs. The Army was also segregated at the time.

"I was living in Oklahoma and job opportunities were terrible because most of the country was segregated at that time," she said.

Through hard work, she was able to eventually become a second lieutenant in April 1943 and ascended the ranks further, eventually making it to second in command of the Women's Army Corps at Fort McClellan.

"I was selected to go to the action general school which was a very high honor," she went on to say, adding that she was moved to Fort Benning. She eventually became a first lieutenant in charge of the Women's Army Corps detachment there.

She was part of the Army until 1946, but has been able to keep up her ties to the armed forces through a care package program she runs for soldiers overseas.

Bailey now lives in an assisted living facility in Columbia, Maryland, where she keeps up with the soldiers she sends packages to.

"I have very little biological family. But I have a very special adopted family," she told the news outlet.

She served on the board of the Howard County General Hospital and retired five years ago after decades helping to run the hospital.

“You need to give back to the community. I would like to see people – to the extent that they can – contribute. When you shop for groceries, pick up extra cans of vegetables and take them to the Howard County Food Bank. Buy extra school supplies for kids every fall and take them to a school where parents might be hard pressed to buy supplies for their children," Bailey told Johns Hopkins Medicine after her retirement.

"Some people are not mindful that in Howard County we have needs.You don’t have to be rich. Those small contributions mean something and will help so much,” she said.

She even got the chance to meet former President Barack Obama, who honored her for her decades of service in the armed forces and for her volunteer work with veterans.

Pres Obama and VP Biden w 97-yr-old Vivian Bailey, who raises money so kids from local school can take field trips pic.twitter.com/bU9Kyd1bYm

— petesouza (archived) (@PeteSouza44) May 26, 2015

When asked whether she would like to do another jump, she laughed and said, "Just once is enough!"

Vivian-Bailey

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