Nation’s oldest World War II vet dies in Texas at age 112

In this May 10, 2018 photo Richard Overton, the oldest living U.S. Veteran at the age of 111, 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. A family member says Overton, the nation's oldest World War II veteran who was also believed to be oldest living man in the U.S., has died in Texas. He was 112. Shirley Overton, whose husband was Richard's cousin, says the Army veteran died Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018 at a rehab facility in Austin, Texas. (Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via AP, file)

By Associated Press December 28, 2018 2 min read

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Richard Overton, the nation’s oldest World War II veteran who was also believed to be the oldest living man in the U.S., died Thursday in Texas, a family member said. He was 112.

The Army veteran had been hospitalized with pneumonia but was released on Christmas Eve, said Shirley Overton, whose husband was Richard’s cousin and his longtime caretaker.

“They had done all they could,” she said.

He died Thursday evening at a rehab facility in Austin, Texas, she said.

Richard 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.