During the first quarter of Sunday’s National Football Conference championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions at Santa Clara,

Frank Wright, a 99-year-old veteran of World War II, received an honor from his favorite football team, the San Francisco 49ers.

Frank Wright, of Lodi, California, saw his first San Francisco 49ers game on Sunday after 78 years of waiting to do so.

The 99-year-old World War II veteran Wright received recognition from his beloved football team

during the opening quarter of the National Football Conference championship game between the Detroit Lions and the Santa Clara Raiders on Sunday.

In front of 71,000 applauding fans, Wright stood in the end zone while sporting his dress blues.

“It was enjoyable,” he remarked. “The last half of the game was excellent.

To me and the audience, the first half was lacking. However, I believe the coach gave them instructions and made them stand in a corner.

The 49ers trailed 24-7 at the half, and as the players made their way to the locker rooms, the audience was somber and concerned.

However, with minutes remaining in the game, the squad came alive in the second half, mounting a comeback to grab a 34-24 lead.

After defeating the Chiefs 34–31, the 49ers advanced to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas to play the Chiefs again.

“I can still picture 71,000 people shouting outside,” he remarked. “After it’s over, you realize that everyone has to leave at the same time to go home.”

Wright, a 16-year-old native of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, enlisted in the USMC in 1942 and went on to complete basic boot camp at the USMC Recruit Depot in San Diego.

During World War II, he participated in combat in the Pacific Theater, where he saw the flag being raised atop Mount Suribachi.

This event is remembered in Joe Rosenthal’s iconic shot, which has come to represent American military success.

The president’s son, Lt. Col. James Roosevelt, commanded the 4th Marine Raiders, a special operations unit based at Camp Pendleton that was established in 1942 to engage in amphibious light infantry warfare. Wright was assigned to this unit.

Wright participated in four significant fights while in the Navy, traveled between islands on eleven different Navy ships, suffered a bayonet wound to the stomach when retaking Guam, and was hit in the chest and arm by machine gun fire on the island of Iwo Jima.

During the final half of his service, he trained new recruits as a drill instructor for the Marines.

Wright received multiple awards including the two-star Purple Heart, two-star Presidential Unit Citation, two-star Navy Unit Commendation,

American Campaign Medal, three-star Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, four-star Fleet Marine Force Medal, four-star Marine Corps Expedition Medal, four-star Combat Action Medal, four-star Victory Medal, and four-star Good Conduct Medal.

He wrote a memoir on his experiences in 2019 called “Battles in the Pacific,” and it is thought that he is one of the three remaining members of the Raiders.

He said that he had never attended a game but claimed to have been a 49ers fan since 1946, the team’s first season in the All-America Football Conference.

Wright recalled, “I was treated incredibly well by the 49ers.” They have everything I might need. I am grateful to the 49ers for inviting me to attend.

Wright had already received recognition for his contributions from a Northern California sports club.

Additionally, Wright threw out the opening pitch during a Stockton Ports game.

He claimed he’s almost ready to deliver his second book, which is about his time in the military, to its publisher. He is currently working on it.