Austinite Richard Overton, America’s Oldest Veteran, Dies At 112

Overton joined the army in 1940 and served in an all-black engineer aviation battalion. He served as Pearl Harbor, and in the Pacific Theater, during World War II.

By Matt LargeyDecember 28, 2018 9:30 am, , ,

From KUT:

Richard Overton, the oldest known American World War II veteran, has died. Overton, who turned 112 in May, was the oldest man in the United States. He was hospitalized recently for pneumonia but was released from the hospital earlier this week.

Overton was born in Bastrop County in 1906. He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and was part of an all-black engineer aviation battalion.

“Uncle Sam called me in, and I went there and I had to do it,” he told KUT’s Audrey McGlinchy in 2015. He served in Pearl Harbor and in the Pacific theater at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

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