Nation's Oldest Man Is Dead

Richard Overton, 112, also was oldest WWII vet
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 28, 2018 1:30 AM CST
Updated Dec 28, 2018 5:59 AM CST
Nation's Oldest WWII Vet Dies at 112
In this May 10, 2018 photo, Richard Overton is back in the east Austin home he has owned since 1948 after a renovation provided by Meals on Wheels of Central Texas and the Home Depot Foundation.   (Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via AP, file)

A family member says the nation's oldest World War II veteran, who was also believed to be oldest living man in the US, has died in Texas. Richard Overton was 112. Shirley Overton, whose husband was Richard's cousin, says the Army veteran died Thursday evening at a rehab facility in Austin, the AP reports. Overton had been recently hospitalized with pneumonia. Overton was in his 30s when he volunteered for the Army and was at Pearl Harbor just after the Japanese attack in 1941. He once said that one secret to his long life was smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, which he often was found doing on the porch of his Austin home. In 2013, he was honored by former President Obama at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

(More World War II veterans stories.)

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