Richard Overton, the oldest living World War II veteran who also happens to be the oldest living man in the U.S., turned 112 on Friday doing what he loves most – smoking cigars and drinking whiskey on his front porch in Austin, Texas.
"I feel fine every day," he told reporters on the eve of his birthday, adding he had "no pain and no aches," NBC affiliate WCMH-TV reported.
Born in 1906, Overton has lived through 19 presidents and endured the war, which saw him enlist in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in 1942, and then serve in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1945. He has met some of those presidents and lots of celebrities.
Last month he was flown to Washington's National Museum of African American History and Culture in a private jet, where he was given a private tour and introduced to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Overton lives in the same home he built 72 years ago, on a street that was named after him. If that wasn’t enough, an artist paid tribute to Overton on an east Austin utility box in the front – a mural that features him with African-American and Latino cultural icons.
Family members hope to "keep him living in his home instead of a nursing home," says a GoFundMe page they set up to help finance round-the-clock in-home care for Overton.
In celebration of his birthday, friends were selling t-shirts as part of the fundraising effort, WCMH-TV noted.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.