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Happy 112th Birthday, Mr. Overton!!

Wally Pryor

By Wally Pryor
in Daily Texan

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Wally Pryor

Wally Pryor 5,261

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I always wanted to make the good bumps and no way did I want to do this final one.

Had the good fortune of spending several afternoons on Mr. O's porch and also made sure my young children got to meet and visit with him.  Truly an incredible experience, for all of us. I'm incredibly sad of his passing but also just so happy to have been in this man's midst for good periods of time.

Rest in peace, Mr. Overton.

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Guest Lobo

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Keep in mind, he was 38 at Iwo Jima.  40 days of hell that claimed 26,000 U.S. casualties.  

At 38, most of us couldn't get by with our sore backs on 7 hours of sleep.  And he did what he did.  And then rolled on for another 75 years on top of that.  

I'd like to picture him, with a stump of a cigar dangling out of his mouth...pulling some private from Dallas, literally half his age, out of a Iwo Jima foxhole, yelling, "You're from Texas, right?  So let's go get those fuckers!"  When the dust settled, then giving that kid a fresh stogie from his breast pocket, and saying, "Now, don't tell your mama I gave you this...unless she's cute."  

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Wally Pryor

Wally Pryor 5,261

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The funeral for Richard Overton, the nation’s oldest man

 who died Thursday in Austin at age 112, has been set for Jan. 12 and will be open to the public, the city’s Military Veterans Program Adminstrator Allen Bergeron said on Friday.

Overton was the oldest World War II veteran and was beloved in Austin for his warm and welcoming nature and well-known for his love of cigars. He died Thursday evening at a rehabilitation facility in Austin, said his cousin Volma Overton Jr.

He had been hospitalized with pneumonia at St. David’s Medical Center for more than a week before he was admitted into the rehab facility on Christmas Eve.

Overton’s funeral will take place at 11 a.m. at Shoreline Church on Burnet Road, Bergeron said. He will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery on Navasota Street in East Austin.

The Cook-Walden Funeral Home is handling services. However, details regarding the burial have not been made final, Bergeron said.

The family is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Honor Flight Austin, which sends military veterans to visit memorials erected in their honor. Contributions can be made at honorflightaustin.org.

Great place for the donations to go.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20181228/public-funeral-for-wwii-vet-richard-overton-set-for-jan-12

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