A 96-year-old WWII veteran named Peter, affectionately known as “Harmonica Pete,” has taken social media by storm with his extraordinary rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. Dressed in a US soccer shirt and a “World War II Veteran” hat adorned with pins and medals, Pete performed in front of a massive audience of 26,000 people.
Despite the size of the crowd, Pete delivered a deeply moving performance, filling the arena with the sweet, soulful notes of his harmonica. Remarkably, he remains humble about his talent, saying, “I am a harmonica player. I don’t know a darn thing about music, but I know how to make a harmonica talk.”
Pete’s electrifying performance quickly went viral, garnering around nine million views on both Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Yet, even with this widespread acclaim, Pete stayed modest, insisting, “This was just the simple ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ the way it was written, and played the way it was meant to be played.”
You can watch “Harmonica Pete” in action in the video below.