stateside for troops<\/a> and other audiences after combat, well into his golden years \u2014 including a September show at a physical therapy facility that treated him for a recent leg injury.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll be alright,\u201d Critelli said of the wound, exuding confidence with his temporary walker and a regular glass of red wine that may be the secret to his longevity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Born in 1921, he came to America from Calabria, Italy, as an 8-year-old and fell in in love with music at age 13. Critelli, who recalled being enamored with the Statue of Liberty while en route to Ellis Island, said he was grateful he wasn\u2019t \u201cstuck\u201d with Mussolini on the wrong side of history.<\/p>\n
New York Islanders left wing Ondrej Palat (81) scores during the third period against the New Jersey Devils. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
An NYU-trained musician before WWII, Critelli brought a saxophone overseas, becoming a favorite at troop dances and VIP speeches with his uplifting musical talents while deployed in Europe.<\/p>\n
Sure, it was an honor to play twice at Islanders games to thunderous applause, but nothing will ever compare to the staff sergeant\u2019s biggest show \u2014 when he performed on top of a tank to thousands of newly liberated civilians in the Netherlands toward the war\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you, those people are very thankful to us for what we did for them,\u201d said Critelli, who still has his wartime saxophone at home near Belmont Park and keeps sheet music for \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner\u201d beside his bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a wonderful day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proud patriot\u2019s life story \u2014 which has been amplified on the global stage since he took to the ice around Christmas 2025 \u2014 has become such a hit that schools call on Critelli to speak and play for high schoolers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day people call me \u2014 \u2018will you please talk to my kids?\u2019\u201d Critelli said, adding he \u201ccould never say no to kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI talk about the freedom of speech, and the kids come over with papers and pencils, and they start writing \u2014 they\u2019re listening,\u201d said Critelli, who opens with a tune to get the students engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I\u2019ll go through the other freedoms we have here. They clap and have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing at the Isles games gave Critelli a taste of stardom that gets him giddy \u2014 especially thinking about his own rehearsal room at UBS Arena \u201cwith my name on the door in brass.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that was very nice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Critelli puts his love for America and stories past in the spotlight for truly selfless reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people left behind \u2014 they couldn\u2019t talk the way I do, couldn\u2019t do what I do,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing it for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s a national treasure. A beloved 105-year-old World War II Army veteran who went viral for thrilling Islanders-Rangers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[135057,776,57,15241,9,24,55,54,6821,56,2956,319,1979,11937],"class_list":["post-364054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-feel-good-moments","tag-long-island","tag-metro","tag-musicians","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-ny","tag-senior-citizens","tag-sports","tag-veterans","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}