'You have to have a reason to stay alive': WWII veteran, 97... - Bartholomeo 'Bennie' Ficeto (center) and members of his 310th Bombardment Group 428th squadron during WWII..jpg ...

....refuses to stop working and bags groceries at a New Jersey store twice a week

more at
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...spite-age.html

*Bartolomeo 'Bennie' Ficeto of Edison, New Jersey, bags groceries at his local
Stop & Shop four hours a day, twice a week

•The store's manager says he tries to make Ficeto take required 15-minute
breaks, but the 97-year-old yells at him, saying 'Don't tell me how to work'

•Ficeto technically retired from his job as a warehouse supervisor for a
cosmetics company in the 1980s, but he's been doing odd jobs ever since

•The WWII veteran was a gunner who flew missions over north Africa and Italy
against the Axis Powers

•He told ABC 7 NY he wants to work until he drops dead

A 97-year-old New Jersey man's indomitable work ethic is earning him praise and
admiration from peers in his town.

Second World War veteran Bartolomeo 'Bennie' Ficeto of Edison, New Jersey, has
been working a regular job virtually his entire life and refuses to stop doing
so now, even though he's nearing 100 years old.

Ficeto currently bags groceries at the Stop & Shop grocery store in his
community, doing four-hour shifts two days a week.

He technically retired from his job as a cosmetics company warehouse supervisor
back in the 1980s, but told CBS News he's been doing odd jobs ever since because
he has always loved putting in a hard day's work.

'Bennie's a joy, he's full of life, he's happy,' store manager Sal Marconi told
ABC 7 NY.

Stop & Shop assistant manager Mike Moss said he's tried to make 'Bennie' take
his mandatory 15-minute break during shifts, but Ficeto just yells at his boss,
saying 'I don't want to stop. Don't tell me how to work. See the light on?
That's where I'm going.'

'I don't take no breaks,' Ficeto told CBS. 'Why would I take a break when I only
get to work four hours?'

Ficeto's attitude about work may have a lot to do with his time serving in the
US Army Air Force during WWII.

In his youth, Bennie worked as a fighter plane gunner, flying a B-25 Mitchell
bomber during missions over northern Africa and Italy against the Axis Powers of
Germany and Italy.

'I was scared every time I had to get into the plane. But the Lord took me
back,' Ficeto said. 'The day I didn't fly, they shot my plane down. And I don't
know where they went down.'

The loss of his brothers in arms seems to have stuck with Bennie throughout his
life. He told reporters he isn't that old and still has all his wits about him,
so doesn't plan to stop using them and will work until he drops dead, according
to ABC 7.

'I get a feeling that I did something good. You can't just stand around, like an
idiot. You have to have a reason to keep alive,' Ficeto said.




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