And at the source, the San Jose Mercury News, "WWII vet becomes viral video star after San Jose racers' spontaneous tribute":
The video got little traction Sunday night as millions of Americans instead were retweeting Ellen DeGeneres's selfie with the movie stars during the Oscars. But by Monday night, Yahoo posted it on its home page. By Tuesday morning, all the major networks were broadcasting the video and some sent news crews to Joe's house. One of them tracked down the first runner in the video, Erik Wittreich, a former Green Beret who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who coincidentally had been awarded a Pat Tillman Foundation scholarship to finish his graduate work at Stanford.
"I just saw this former soldier showing a lot of respect for his uniform," Wittreich said while visiting Joe at his home Tuesday. "He was clearly proud to show he was in the military. It was important for me to thank him."
Joe lives with his grown son, Matt. His wife, Mary, died four years ago.
"I thought the video caught a moment in time that was honest," Matt Bell said. "There was nothing staged about it. It was an honest response from honest people. We don't see that too much."
And he hasn't seen his father this excited in a long time, he said.
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