World War II veteran Frank Orilio was honored Wednesday at a Veterans Day celebration at Mission Barbecue in Broward County. Orilio, who turned 104 this week, performed big band-era hits on drums for the crowd, and attendees sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
Orilio said he has been playing drums for 95 years, starting in his childhood home. He recalled that he broke lamps and dented pots before his mother put a stop to it.
During the war, Orilio served in both the infantry and the Air Corps and fought on the front lines in Germany and France. He described cold, muddy conditions and said his job was carrying the base plate for a mortar.
After the war, he built a professional career as a drummer, including a job at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Today he gives lectures at colleges and elementary schools, and he said he was surprised at how little younger generations know about the war.
“They should be taught about the Greatest Generation,” he said.
