DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Richard Arvin Overton. Now, some lives are so long and so full that when you try to lay them out, people just look at you sideways. Richard Arvin Overton was that kind of life.
He was born in 1906, out in the Pleasant Valley community in Bastrop County, to Gentry Overton Sr. and Elizabeth — Lizzie — Franklin Overton Waters. His father, Gentry Sr., lived from 1877 to 1920. His mother, Lizzie, from 1876 to 1939.
Richard grew up, found his footing, and in early adulthood made his way to Travis County. On December 21, 1926, he married his first wife, Novella Prince, and not long after that he settled in East Austin. Then came September 3, 1942.
Richard walked into Fort Sam Houston and enlisted in the United States Army. He was assigned to the 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion — an all-Black unit — and they sent him to the South Pacific. Pearl Harbor.
Iwo Jima. Okinawa. Places that echo in American memory like a struck bell.
But here's the thing about the 1887th that doesn't always make the headlines: that battalion cleared land on the island of Guam to build something called North Field, a strategic airstrip. That airstrip later became Andersen Air Force Base. They built the foundation for something that outlasted the war itself.
In 1945, Richard Overton left the Army as a Technician Fifth Grade. He eventually earned the rank of Corporal, received an expert rifle marksmanship badge, and collected other military awards along the way. Back home, life kept moving.
He later married Wilma Galloway, born in 1910, who passed in 1988. The two of them built a home together in 1948 in the College Heights subdivision in East Austin — built it, put it up, made it theirs. Richard worked in a warehouse.
Then he took a position with the Texas Treasury Department, working as a courier. He retired in the 1970s, and even then, he didn't disappear. He stayed a staple of his community, the kind of presence a neighborhood knows it's lucky to have.
In the early twenty-first century, the President of the United States honored Richard Overton at the White House as the oldest living World War II veteran. The oldest living man in the entire country. Richard Arvin Overton died at the age of 112.
He is buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. A man born in Pleasant Valley in Bastrop County. A man who cleared ground on Guam and built a home in East Austin.
A man who outlasted nearly everyone — and when the time came, was laid to rest in the soil of the state he called home. That's a story the marker only begins to hold.
What the marker says
(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)