World War II Veteran Takes the Stage at RNC: ‘America is still worth fighting for’

World War II veteran William Pekrul took the stage at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, receiving raucous applause when he declared that he would re-enlist in the U.S. military if Donald Trump is elected president this November.

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The 98-year-old Wisconsonite, father to 11 children, said that if President Trump was back as commander-in-chief, he “would go back to re-enlist today” — a statement that was met with a standing ovation from the crowd of Republicans.

“And I would storm whatever beach my country needs me to,” Pekrul added.

“Some call us the greatest generation,” he said. “That’s an honor considering America is the greatest nation in the history of the world.”

Pekrul said that he would “never forget” the horrors he witnessed while fighting on the western front in the Second World War at the Battle of the Bulge and at the Nazi war camps.

“There aren’t many of us left today,” Pekrul said of his fellow World War II veterans.

“But for us, those who are here — that America is still worth fighting for,” he said, raising his fist in the air, which was followed by chants of “fight, fight, fight” from the crowd, echoing Trump’s defiant shout of “fight” after nearly being assassinated at a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend.

“It hurts my heart to see, what our current president and vice president have done to the country I love so well,” he continued. “They humiliated us in Afghanistan, we’re pushed around in China, terrorists run wild in the Middle East, and they let our own southern border get overrun.”

“People say America is an idea,” the World War II veteran said. “But I believe America is much more than that. America, America is our home.”

“You know, when I was fighting in Europe, and I came back home, I kissed ground,” he said.

“Thank God that I’m back home, in my country,” he said, choking up.

“And where I come from, when somebody comes for me or my home, you dig in your boots in the ground, and never look back,” he added.