Stars and Stripes Honor Flight "Dancing Chuck" Franzke in the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight video.
Chuck Franzke, who is known in some corners as “Dancing Chuck,” is at it again with a dance video, and it’s charming the Internet at a time when a lot of people could use the positive feeling. Stars and Stripes Honor Flight shared the video and wrote on Twitter of the Wisconsin veteran: “97 yr old dancing #WWII #Navy pilot Chuck is back! Quarantine ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’… #honorflight #Everydayisabonus.”
Franzke has been making news headlines for years in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. In 2019, the Commemorative Air Force Wisconsin Wing chose to honor him during a World War II event with a ride in a restored World War II plane.
Stars and Stripes Honor Flight has shared videos of him dancing before, and they went viral a couple of years ago. The group brings veterans on flights to Washington D.C. to honor them. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Franzke, who went on a trip in the past, has helped raise money so other veterans could do so as well.
Here’s the latest Dancing Chuck video:
Chuck has been dancing for some time. Here he is in 2017:
Wisconsin #WWII #Navy pilot Chuck put on his dancing shoes in the spirit of the holidays…on the eve of his 95th birthday. Happy holidays to all! #honorflight
Here he is in December 2019:
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WWII Navy pilot Chuck was dancing his way to 97 and through the holiday season!
Here’s what you need to know:
Dancing Chuck Has a Lot of Fans on Social Media
People offered praise for Chuck online. Here are some examples:
“My Grandpa was a WWII Navy quartermaster, and even though he passed 20 years ago, he would be doing the same as this guy if he were still alive, haha. God bless that gentleman!”
“I am so here for this…he is AMAZING.”
“This man made it home from WWII, coronavirus is like a paper cut to this hero.”
“This makes me really miss my Grandpa. He would have been SO down for this! And a social distancing beer. God, he was incredible.”
“Chuck has seen worse things than this. Sprightly, isn’t he. I’d join him, at a CDC approved distance of six feet, so as not to endanger his good health.”
Chuck sometimes dances with his wife. “Chuck Franzke has been dancing with his high school sweetheart for nearly 80 years,” reported CBS Philly in 2018, when Chuck was making Christmas videos.
The video says his wife is his high school sweetheart. In that video, Chuck spoke about his dancing, saying he used to jitterburg when he was young. “I just like music.” He said love gets you to the altar, but trust and respect gets a couple through the next 70 years.
You can find the website for the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight here. The Journal Sentinel reported that Chuck “served in the Navy from 1943 to 1945, flying Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers off the carrier USS Saginaw Bay in the Pacific.” He lives in East Troy, Wisconsin, according to CBS 58, a Milwaukee television station. He also once dropped a ceremonial first puck at a Milwaukee Admirals hockey game in honor of veterans, the television station reported.
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