Richard Overton, World War II veteran and America’s oldest man, dies at 112 | The Washington Post Richard Overton was in his mid-30s when he began serving in World War II. It was perhaps the most important thing he did with his life, but it was far from the last.

Overton, who died Thursday in Austin after battling pneumonia, according to the Associated Press, was 112. He was believed to be America’s oldest man, as well as its oldest living World War II veteran.

Photos By Ricardo Brazziell / Austin American-Statesman, Image Credit

He’d also spent decades in the furniture business, lived in his East Austin home for more than 70 years and had become something of a celebrity as he passed 108, 109 and later 112. The older he got, the more his charm — and his fondness for cigars and whiskey, his front porch and church — wowed the folks around him.