Heartwarming moment earlier this month before the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball game when 96-year-old John Pylman performed the National Anthem.
He Mlive.com, “to me, it means the United States of America, worth fighting for. God’s blessed us with this wonderful country, let’s take care of it. It’s worth fighting for.”
”A video of the performance at the minor league baseball game has since gone viral on Facebook, with more than 3 million views as of Wednesday, Aug. 11.
Many people who commented on the video said they were brought to tears by Pylman’s moving performance, noting that the 96-year-old was truly singing from the heart.
Pylman said he was blown away by the reaction to his performance. It “made his day” to find out millions of people saw the video, he said.
“I can’t believe it,” he told MLive. “That’s my attitude right now – I just can’t believe it. I was amazed at the crowd’s reaction, and I thought, okay, this is a good thing to have done.”
A lifelong Grand Rapids resident, Pylman enlisted in the Air Force in 1943, a year after he graduated from high school. He was a navigator on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress plane as part of the Eighth Air Force in England.
After serving in the military, Pylman went on to study education at then Calvin College, now Calvin University. He was the very first principal at Rogers High School in Wyoming, where he served from 1957-1980.”