Richard Overton

Overton's fame came late. In 2013 he told Fox News how he planned to spend Memorial Day, the governor met him, and he was invited to the White House and to the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington, where President Obama singled him out by name. Austin Community College gave him an honorary associate degree in 2014, and a 2016 documentary, Mr. Overton, followed his daily routine. He died in December 2018 at the age of 112, the oldest verified American World War II veteran and the oldest man in the country.

What the plaque says

Richard Overton (1906-2018) Born in the Pleasant Valley community in Bastrop County to Gentry Overton Sr. (1877-1920) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Franklin) Overton Waters (1876-1939), Richard Arvin Overton gained notoriety as the oldest World War II veteran and living man in the United States. Richard moved to Travis County in early adulthood. He married his first wife, Novella Prince, on December 21, 1926, but soon after moved to East Austin. On September 3, 1942, at Fort Sam Houston, Richard enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the all-Black unit of the 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion, serving in the South Pacific, including in Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The 1887th Battalion was notable for clearing land to build "North Field," a strategic airstrip on the island of Guam, which later became Andersen Air Force Base. Overton left the Army in 1945 as a Technician Fifth Grade. Eventually, he earned the rank of Corporal and received an expert rife marksmanship badge, along with other military awards. He later married Wilma Galloway (1910-1988). The couple had no children. In 1948, they built a home in the College Heights subdivision in East Austin. Overton worked in a warehouse, and later, for the Texas Treasury Department as a courier. He retired in the 1970s. Overton continued to be a staple in his community. In the early twenty-first century, he was honored in the White House by the President as the oldest living World War II veteran. He died at the age of 112 and is buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. (2023)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.4 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Cemetery — 0.5 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• Texas State Capitol — 1.5 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.

More markers nearby

• Mount Olive Baptist Church — steps away
• Blackshear Elementary School — 0.2 mi
• Tillotson College — 0.3 mi
• Holy Cross Catholic Church and Community — 0.3 mi