After a battle with pneumonia that left him hospitalized for more than a week, the nation's oldest living World War II veteran passed away on Thursday at 112 years old.
Richard Overton was born in Bastrop County, Texas, in 1906. According to the New York Daily News, the serviceman enlisted in the military in 1940. Overton, a member of the all-Black 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion per HuffPost, was based in the South Pacific, serving his country in Hawaii, Iwo Jima, Guam and Palau.
Overton retired from the Army in 1945 and returned to his home state where he worked in Austin at the Texas Department of Treasury.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement mourning Overton's death, stating that he made an impact to so many people who were lucky to have known him.
"With his quick wit and kind spirit he touched the lives of so many, and I am deeply honored to have known him," his statement read.
A popular man around his East Austin neighborhood that he called home for 72 years, Overton's previous birthdays were always met with pomp and circumstance. The Statesman writes that for his 111th birthday, fans traveled to his home just to pose for a photo and deliver gifts to the birthday boy. His cousin, Volma Overton, Jr. compared the experience to those waiting in line to meet Santa Claus.
"It looks like everybody’s getting ready to take a picture with Santa Claus — and he never turns anyone down," Overton expressed. "He's an open person to everybody, and he wanted everyone who was in town who wanted to come by to come by."
When asked the secret to a long and fulfilling life, Overton joked that smoking cigars and a shot of whiskey usually did the trick.
HuffPost reports that former president Barack Obama recognized Overton for his service in 2013, honoring him during a Veterans Day program at Arlington National Cemetery.
"He was there at Pearl Harbor, when the battleships were still smoldering," Obama said. "He was there at Okinawa. He was there at Iwo Jima, where he said, ‘I only got out of there by the grace of God.'"
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