NPR.Org

The United States has lost its oldest World War II veteran. Richard Overton, who fought overseas in a segregated unit, died Thursday at age 112. He was hospitalized recently after a bout with pneumonia and took his last antibiotic on Dec. 21 — "a true soldier in fighting this infection battle with all that he has," his cousin, Volma Overton, said on Facebook. Richard Overton was born in 1906, near Austin, Texas. He enlisted in the Army in 1940, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the 1887th Aviation Engineer Battalion, a unit made up of black soldiers, and served in Pearl Harbor, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He chalked his long life up to aspirin, stress-free living and yardwork. He was also known to eat ice cream, drink whiskey and smoke cigars. The U.S. Army offered prayers to the Overton family, saying on Twitter, "Today we mourn not just a hero, but a legend."