National Football League

WWII vet, 97, takes a knee in support of anthem protests

Published Sep. 25, 2017 6:33 a.m. ET

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) On a day when NFL teams grabbed the nation's attention by coordinating demonstrations during the national anthem, a 97-year-old World War II veteran went viral with a solitary show of support for the protests.

Brennan Gilmore posted a Twitter picture Sunday morning of his grandfather, John Middlemas, kneeling while wearing a veteran's cap. Gilmore wrote: ''My grandpa is a 97 year-old WWII vet & Missouri farmer who wanted to join w/ those who (hash)TakeaKnee: `those kids have every right to protest.'''

Middlemas is a farmer from Willard, Missouri. He tells the Springfield News-Leader he wanted to communicate ''that you have to love everybody.'' He adds: ''We don't kill people. We want to make people live.''

The image has been shared hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter.