AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two 107-year-old veterans are set to meet for the first time and swap stories of fighting in the Pacific during World War II.
Austin resident Richard Overton was recently honored by President Barack Obama in Washington as one of the nation’s oldest veterans. But he’s just three months older than Elmer Hill of Henderson, Texas.
Overton and Hill plan to have lunch together Friday then meet with residents and staff of a senior living community in Austin.
Overton and Hill are both African-Americans who were drafted into a then-segregated U.S. Army.
According to the event’s organizer, Emeritus Senior Living, Overton is America’s oldest living veteran and Hill is the second-oldest. While that’s difficult to verify, no one disputes that both are among the oldest known veterans in the nation.