NFL teams everywhere ignited widespread attention yesterday by coordinating kneeling demonstrations during the national anthem, and now one 97-year-old World War II veteran has gone viral for his show of solidarity.
My grandpa is a 97 year-old WWII vet & Missouri farmer who wanted to join w/ those who #TakeaKnee: “those kids have every right to protest.” pic.twitter.com/LurCj7SLUB
— Brennan Gilmore (@brennanmgilmore) September 24, 2017
Twitter user Brennan Gilmore posted a photo of his grandfather, John Middlemas, kneeling while wearing a veteran’s hat.
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“My grandpa is a 97 year-old WWII vet & Missouri farmer who wanted to join w/ those who #TakeaKnee: ‘those kids have every right to protest,’ ” the tweet said.
The farmer from Willard, Missouri told the Springfield News-Leader that he wanted to communicate “that you have to love everybody.”
“We don’t kill people. We want to make people live,” he added.
One intended recipient of Middlemas’ message? President Donald Trump, who has widely condemned the kneeling protests, even going so far as to tell the NFL the league should be firing its kneeling players.
The photo has been retweeted and liked hundreds of thousands of times on the social media site.
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