The speeches were done and the thank-yous had been said. Then Anthony Chatowsky looked at the American flag in front of him and decided the ceremony needed one more thing.

Chatowsky is 89 and lives with his wife Florence at John Clarke Senior Living in Middletown, Rhode Island. He spent about 30 years in uniform between active duty and the reserves. He started in the Coast Guard and was drafted into the Navy during Vietnam in 1968.

Last week the community held its yearly salute to the veterans who live there. Each one received a pin showing the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

May I sing a song to the flag?

Sitting there with the flag right in front of him, Chatowsky raised his hand and asked if it would be OK to sing to it. The staff said sure and handed him a microphone. From his wheelchair he launched into You're a Grand Old Flag.

It did not stay a solo for long. Residents and staff crowded around him and started singing along. A lot of people were wiping their eyes by the last line. Hospice staff who were there caught it all on video.

He says he has always loved to sing. Whenever a chorus needed voices he was the first to volunteer. He told a reporter he sang from the heart and that the best part was everyone joining him.

The old timer goes viral

The video was posted online and within a few days it had more than 17,000 views and hundreds of comments thanking him for his service. When he was told he had gone viral he laughed. He said he is an old timer who is still learning the cell phone.

He also said he is glad to have joined the modern age and to be reaching more people than just the folks in the room. Before he retired he even ran a fish print museum, so he knows a thing or two about an audience.

Asked what the flag means to him, he did not hesitate. Freedom, he said. Freedom to worship where you choose and to speak your mind. On Veterans Day it is hard to think of a better way to say thank you than a room full of people singing along with a man who served for three decades.