FORT LAUDERDALE \u2013 For WWII veteran Frank Orilio, Veterans Day is about more than honoring his service. He also celebrated a rare milestone.<\/p>\n
“This is quite a thing, I cant believe that I’m getting all these accolades, I didn’t expect this at all,” Orilio said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday he turned 103 years old. He celebrated alongside fellow veterans who received free lunch at Mission BBQ on Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, where the restaurant hosted a special event in his honor.<\/p>\n
Recalling wartime service\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to CBS News Miami, he recalled his time in the war.<\/p>\n
“I was in the mortar platoon you fire those missiles out there you don’t know,” Orilio said. “All I do is I remember the good times I had in the service.”<\/p>\n
City honors veterans downtown\u00a0<\/p>\n
In downtown Fort Lauderdale on the Riverwalk, the city honored veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.<\/p>\n
“Its’ just a small token of our appreciation this is something we should do every day thanking our veterans their families,” said Mayor Dean Trantalis.<\/p>\n
“Every day is veterans day, that’s what it means to mean,” said Curtis Walker.<\/p>\n
Family tradition of service\u00a0<\/p>\n
Walker is an Army veteran. He followed in the footsteps of his father.<\/p>\n
“My dad was in Korea, and I’m from a long line of soldiers,” Walker said.<\/p>\n
Shaped by service and sacrifice\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the veterans were thanked for defending the country’s freedom, many said their service shaped who they are today.<\/p>\n
“I said out loud if I get out of this alive I’m never going to worry about a thing the rest of my life,” Orilio said.<\/p>\n
Secret to long life<\/p>\n
Orilio said that’s his secret to the fountain of youth.<\/p>\n
“Stay in good health, don’t worry because it doesn’t do you any good, none. Think positive and you’ll have a good life and eat correctly,” Orilio said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE \u2013 For WWII veteran Frank Orilio, Veterans Day is about more than honoring his service. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[28,249,251,250,123,807],"class_list":["post-43143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-miami","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}