Robert Wadlow

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Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22 1918–July 15 1940) was one of the tallest people who ever lived. He was born in Alton, Illinois, USA and was normal at birth and started growing abnormally when he was 4. He was 6 feet tall by the time he entered 3rd grade. By the time he was 19, he was almost 8 ft. tall. Because he was so tall, he got lots of attention and became very famous, but his bones were very weak and he had to wear leg braces. In 1940, he was walking in a Fourth of July parade, when one of his braces made his ankle get infected; he died on the 15th of that month.When he died he was 8' 11.1". Four days later, on his funeral, 40,000 people attended and it took 12 people to carry his coffin. People remember him as the "Gentle Giant" and there is a statue of him at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Dental Medicine. People now say Wadlow had something called giantism, which made him so tall.