At age 111, America's oldest veteran is still smoking cigars and drinking whiskey

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Richard Overton is right where he wants to be.

He’s sitting in a lawn chair on the front porch of the Austin home he built nearly 70 years ago, working on his fifth Tampa Sweet cigar on a 91-degree sunny day. The smooth tunes of the Isley Brothers flow from a portable speaker. Birds are chirping in the late afternoon breeze.

“I’m feeling pretty good today,” Overton says, emphasizing the word pretty, because any day spent on this porch smoking cigars is a pretty good day for the 111-year-old.

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Overton starts his mornings as early as 3 a.m., drinking two to four cups of coffee. He’ll walk around his house to increase blood flow to his limbs, then smoke his first of 12 daily cigars. If he can, he’ll fall back asleep. Every day, he’s eager for the sun and the neighborhood to rise.

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