Thieves target world's oldest U.S. veteran
AUSTIN - It is a shocking and heartless crime against one of the greatest of this nation’s greatest generation.
The family of the nation's oldest veteran said thieves have drained his bank account.
At 112 years old, Richard Overton is also one of the last living WWII veterans which makes it all the more tragic that thieves would target the Austin, Texas, resident's finances.
His family said it all started this week when they went to make a deposit into his savings account and realized it was empty.
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That's when the bank helped them figure out that someone they didn't know had made several big withdrawals over the course of months essentially emptying the Marine’s account.
The theft came as a shock to Overton’s cousin who has been at his side for years.
“We found out that this money was being used to buy saving's bonds. And we looked at each other and like 'Saving's bonds?' Knowing that we had nothing to with that or Richard had nothing to do with that, but somebody else did,” said Olma Overton, cousin.
He said it's not hard to find information on Overton with all of his notoriety but he isn't certain how the thieves got a hold of his social security number.
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Overton was born May 11, 1906, in Bastrop County, Texas. When he came of age, he served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1945 as part of the all-black 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion. After the war, he returned to Austin and would spend many years working for Governor Ann Richards. Overton bought a house in East Austin for a whopping $4,000 where he's lived ever since. Last year, the Austin City Council gave the street on which he lived the honorary name of Richard Overton Avenue.
Anyone who wishes to contribute to help Tech Corporal Richard Overton can do so at gofundme.com/Help-Richard-Overton.