Age is just a number to Pete DuPre. A talented harmonicist, the 96-year-old veteran has traveled the world treating fans everywhere to his rendition of the National Anthem.
For Harmonica Pete, as he’s fondly called, his most recent performance before a packed house at Madison Square Garden made him a viral star.
He claims that he isn’t a musician, but he’s played the harmonica for more than half a century.
Pete and his siblings had just started a new school in Bellevue, Pa., in the middle of the Great Depression. He knew no one, so to try and make friends, Pete joined the school’s harmonica band that surprisingly had more than 100 kids learning to play the tiny instrument.
“One way I could get to know some of the other kids in school is if I had a harmonica.”
So Pete’s dad worked hard and saved up 50 cents to buy his son one. He had to sneak off and teach himself how to play it.
“I used to go into the only room we had that had tile. I used to go in, close the door and sit on a seat in the middle of the room and learn what noises came out what hole in the harmonica. I never had any lesson. I do not know anything about music.”
But when Pete turned 17, he found himself in charge of his four siblings, because his parents had died. He joined the Army and trained to be a surgical and medical technician.
His job was to “piece injured soldiers back together again” during World War II.
He was stationed at the 114th General Hospital Unit in Kidderminster, England and served three years total overseas, treating wounded soldiers across Europe.
One of the most difficult memories from that period was treating soldiers clinging to life who were injured in the Battle of the Bulge.
“The Battle of the Bulge was an awful, awful thing. By the time they reached us, they were in awful shape.”
After Pete returned home from the war, he picked his harmonica back up again. He began performing before his family, his church congregation and eventually moved on to small groups like those assembled at nursing homes.
“I am a harmonica player. I don’t know a darn thing about music, but I know how to make a harmonica talk.”
When his wife of 70 years passed away, Pete became involved in The Greatest Generations Foundation, an organization that honors veterans for their service. His involvement in this group eventually led to performances at major military memorial services in the U.S. and Europe, as well as at sporting events.
Pete’s unique talents quickly piqued the interest of others to where he was invited to perform at Pearl Harbor and the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
He has played his harmonica at a Minnesota Vikings game and before the start of an exhibition soccer game between the U.S. women’s national team and Mexico. He even released a Christmas album last year.
Most recently, Pete was wheeled out onto the basketball court in his wheelchair to perform the “Star-Spangled Banner” before Cleveland Cavaliers played the New York Knicks.
He proudly donned his World War II veteran’s cap and dressed in a Knicks jersey underneath his dapper suit coat. Military members held an oversized American flag while Pete stepped up to the microphone and mesmerized the crowd with his music.
The sound Pete makes with his harmonica is indescribable. Fans just couldn’t wait until the end of his rendition to start cheering for this amazing man.
When he finished, Pete tipped his veteran’s hat in thanks to the crowd for their wild response to his performance. Listen to Pete’s version of the National Anthem in the video below. It’s amazing!
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96 year-old World War II veteran Pete DuPré played the national anthem on his harmonica before the Knicks game Sunday 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hwoVs8F9C1
— ESPN (@espn) November 11, 2019
