Richard Overton Passes Away

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Richard Overton Passes Away

A true American hero has passed away. Richard Overton, America’s oldest War War II veteran and the man believed to be the oldest person in the United States, died Thursday afternoon. The news was confirmed by his family member Shirley Overton to CNN.

He was previously lauded by President Obama who honored him at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in 2013 and the centenarian credited his long life to God’s grace.

Overton also enjoyed vices like whiskey and cigar smoking and butter pecan ice cream that he ate nightly.

“I drink whiskey in my coffee. Sometimes I drink it straight,” CNN reports he said when he was 107. “I smoke my cigars, blow the smoke out; I don’t swallow it.”

Overton served with the 188th Aviation Engineer Battalion, an all-black unit in the Pacific, and began volunteering for the army in 1942. Before his passing, he visited Washington D.C.’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

He would have been 113 on May 11, 2019.

R.I.P. Mr. Overton. Thank you for your service.