Meet the Oldest Living U.S. Veteran
BY JESSE GREENSPAN, History Channel
For his first 107 years, Richard Overton lived in relative anonymity. A World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific, he could usually be found post-retirement on the porch of his Austin, Texas, home, smoking cigars and chatting up his extensive circle of family and friends. Then, in 2013, he visited Washington, D.C., and was referred to in the media as the oldest living U.S. veteran. (In actuality, that would not become true until 2016.)
Suddenly, Overton was an in-demand celebrity. Texas Governor Rick Perry showed up at his door bearing whiskey. President Barack Obama invited him to the White House. The San Antonio Spurs gave him a number 110 jersey (his age at the time) and brought him onto the court for a standing ovation. And he became a staple at Austin civic events, such as the annual Veterans Day parade.
Meanwhile, strangers began sending him cigars in the mail, calling him on the phone, or coming by the house to thank him for his military service. “He’s very social,” says Volma Overton Jr., 69, his second cousin once removed, who visits Overton daily. “He’ll spend time talking to everybody and shaking everybody’s hand.” Under doctor’s orders, his relatives limit his porch time so that he doesn’t overextend himself. Yet they acknowledge he thrives on the fame. “He kind of lives off all that,” Volma Overton Jr. says. “He knows that he has this attention and status around the world.”
In addition to being the oldest U.S. veteran, Overton is thought to be the oldest living male in the United States. Though dependent on 24-hour home care, friends and family say his mind remains sharp. Moreover, he still walks, only recently gave up driving, and takes no regular medication stronger than aspirin. Overton has credited “God and cigars” for his longevity, telling HISTORY he still smokes about 12 a day, but that he never inhales.
Military records show that Overton enlisted in the Army on September 3, 1942, at age 36, nine months after the United States had entered World War II. Serving with the all-black 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion, he would eventually be shipped off to the Pacific Theater, apparently arriving in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, his unit’s first overseas stop, the day after a series of accidental explosions sunk several ships and killed or wounded hundreds of men. (This incident, which occurred two-and-a-half years after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, would become known as the West Loch disaster.) Overton’s battalion later helped wrest control of Angaur, in the Palau islands, from the Japanese, and also made its way to Guam.
After being discharged from the Army at the end of the war, Overton returned to Austin—which was then strictly segregated under Jim Crow laws—and built the house he still lives in. (In spring 2017, the Austin City Council voted to rename his street Richard Overton Avenue.) Originally re-entering the furniture business, he later spent many years at the state treasury department, working for part of that stretch under future Texas Governor Ann Richards.
