Meet Richard Overton
Meet Richard Overton-the world’s oldest known WWII Veteran.
If you were 107-years-old, imagine all of the stories you would be able to tell. Now, imagine you are 107-years-old, and the oldest known World War II Veteran.
That was just the beginning for 107-year-old Richard Overton, who was honored on this Veteran’s Day at Arlington National Cemetery. According to Fox News, Richard Overton served in the Pacific during WWII, and, as President Obama spoke about Mr. Overton said, “He was there at Pearl Harbor when the battleships were still smoldering. He was there at Okinawa. He was there at Iwo Jima.”
In the war, he was a member of the Army’s 188th Aviation Engineer Battalion. He reportedly volunteered to do the service. After returning home from the war, Mr. Overton lived in Texas. There, he built a house for him and his wife, which they still live in.
Mr. Overton is a very traditional man, still raking his own lawn, and he even drives ladies in his town to church every Sunday. He believes that he has lived so long because of drinking a tablespoon of whiskey in his coffee and smoking a dozen cigars each day.
