(VIDEO) 102-Year-Old WWII Veteran's 'God Bless America' Brings Brewers Crowd to Its Feet on 9/11 Anniversary

MILWAUKEE — A 102-year-old World War II Navy veteran brought a sold-out crowd at American Family Field to its feet Friday night, delivering a rendition of "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch as the Milwaukee Brewers routed the Cincinnati Reds on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Sverre Vinje, a Rockford, Illinois, resident who served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945, led more than 41,000 fans in the song as the Brewers cruised to a 20-0 win that clinched the team a spot in the postseason. Footage of Vinje's performance quickly spread across social media, with the crowd erupting into cheers before breaking into chants of "USA! USA!" once the final notes faded.

Vinje's wartime service took him through two of the Pacific theater's most brutal campaigns, the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. According to an account from St. Bernadette Catholic Church, he served aboard the USS Donaldson, a ship whose World War II service earned seven battle stars. Vinje has said he made the decision to enlist after hearing news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. "Any good red-blooded American would want to do something about it," Vinje said, explaining his choice to join the fight.

Friday's performance was not Vinje's first time leading a stadium in song. He has sung "God Bless America" at sporting events before, including games for the Rockford IceHogs hockey team, where he has become a familiar and beloved presence at Military Appreciation Night celebrations. During one such appearance earlier this year at the BMO Center in Rockford, Vinje reflected on what it meant to be included in the festivities. "It's a night to get out for me because I don't get out much, but it's wonderful to be with all these good people," Vinje said. "That's really wonderful."

Vinje's hometown of Rockford has embraced him as a local treasure in recent years. In June, community members organized a surprise drive-by birthday celebration outside his home to mark his 102nd birthday, bringing together neighbors, motorcycle groups, emergency crews and local law enforcement for the tribute. Vinje said the outpouring caught him completely off guard. "It's more than overwhelming," he said, laughing. "I might get my heart going again."

The birthday celebration was organized by VetsRoll, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring the region's veterans, with the group's president, Mark Finnegan, helping lead the effort. Finnegan said Vinje's long relationship with the organization made the tribute especially meaningful. "Sverre has been a special part of our VetsRoll family for a lot of years now and the Rockford community," Finnegan said. He noted the significance of Vinje's age falling in the same year the country marked its 250th anniversary. "For Sverre, alone, at 102, he's roughly 40 percent of the age of this country of 250 years," Finnegan said.

Finnegan also spoke to the broader purpose behind honoring veterans like Vinje as their numbers continue to dwindle with each passing year. "It's just important for people like younger generations to know that they are still there and their contributions they made to society, but it's also important for them to know that we appreciate what they did," he said.

Friday's Brewers game carried its own significance beyond the anniversary and Vinje's performance. Milwaukee's 20-0 victory made the club the first team in Major League Baseball history to post multiple shutout wins of at least 20 runs in a single season, following a 22-0 blowout of the Seattle Mariners earlier in August. The win also clinched the Brewers a postseason berth, adding to the celebratory atmosphere already building inside the ballpark before Vinje even took his moment in the spotlight.

The convergence of a milestone anniversary, a clinching win and a centenarian veteran's stirring performance made for a night that resonated well beyond Milwaukee, with clips of Vinje's singing circulating widely online in the days that followed. For many watching, the moment offered a direct, living connection to a generation of Americans who served during World War II and are now increasingly rare, with most surviving veterans of that conflict now in their late 90s or older.

Vinje's health has not always made public appearances easy. He suffered a serious fall and broke his hip in 2024, spending much of that year in physical therapy before undergoing home repairs, including new fixtures and safety improvements, provided free of charge by a local plumber who wanted to support a fellow veteran. Despite that setback, Vinje has continued to make appearances at community events in the time since, singing the same patriotic anthem that has become something of a signature for him at gatherings across the Rockford area.

For a crowd gathered on a somber national anniversary, Vinje's rendition offered a moment of unity that cut across the usual boundaries of a baseball game, blending remembrance of the September 11 attacks with an even older generation's wartime sacrifice. As the Brewers celebrated on the field following their playoff-clinching win, the image of a 102-year-old veteran leading tens of thousands of fans in song stood as its own kind of tribute, one organizers and fans alike said they hoped would remind younger generations of what came before them.

Vinje's performance has since been shared and celebrated across social media platforms, with commentators and fans praising both the emotional weight of the moment and the resilience of a man who, more than eight decades after his own service, can still bring a packed stadium to its feet.