It’s not just any church that can boast a 100-year-old usher who loves to charm the ladies and travels the country recounting memories of World War II.
At Holy Angels Church in Arcadia, centenarian Joseph “Peppy” Sciarra has been a fixture at the 9 a.m. Mass for years. To the students of Holy Angels School, he is the veteran they’ve honored for several Veteran’s Day ceremonies.
This Monday, they will present Sciarra with a congressional commendation from Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, who was happy to send the tribute in honor of Sciarra’s service in the U.S. Army, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division.
The ceremony will also feature student-led tributes, providing an opportunity for students to express their appreciation for contributions.
“Veterans like Joe ‘Peppy’ Sciarra have given so much — many making the ultimate sacrifice — to defend our freedoms. I am deeply grateful for his service and remain steadfast in my commitment to supporting all veterans,” Chu said.
Rev. Kevin Rettig, pastor at Holy Angels Church, said his long-lived parishioner is an inspiration.
“Peppy is a valuable link to the past, an inspirational speaker whose first-hand experiences make history come alive for the new generation,” Rettig said. “He continues to fascinate the children and the adults and helps us all to understand the world a little better. He was there!”
Los Angeles-born and raised, Sciarra was 16 when the U.S. was catapulted into World War II after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. At 18, he joined the Army’s “Wolfhounds,” a unit of the 25th Division called “Tropic Lightning.”
Sciarra can recount surviving combat in the Pacific Theater, seeing friends blown up, he said, during the Allied counteroffensive in Guadalcanal, digging foxholes with their rifles, and building a church out of bamboo.
Stricken with malaria, he made it through the war. He was with Gen. Douglas MacArthur when that war hero returned to liberate the Philippines in 1945. Sciarra served in the occupation of Japan, in charge of destroying Japanese military equipment.
He married his pen pal Lucille in 1946, and they settled in the San Gabriel Valley running Peppy’s Meats in Alhambra for 32 years and raising their son Joseph. They moved to Arcadia in 1962.
“Lu” was the most beautiful woman you’d ever meet, her husband said.
“I knew her when she was 11 and I loved her then but she wanted nothing to do with me,” he said. “Then when I was in the Philippines, she started writing me. I didn’t think she’d be waiting for me. I was just some guy sick with malaria after the war, but she was there when I got out of the hospital.”
When his Lu died in 2019, they had been married for 73 years, “with never an argument,” Sciarra said. “When you love someone, you don’t want to hurt them. When I think of her now, I see her all sniles and happy.”
His weekly ushering duties and involvement with the Rotary Club grew to include a new mission in the intervening years: speaking for all veterans.
“I speak for our love of country, our love for the Constitution,” Sciarra said. “I love what I’m doing.”
Sciarra’s contributed his oral history t the Library of Congress, the Arcadia Oral History Project, and service clubs from Azusa to Sierra Madre and around the country. He’s been honored by the Los Angeles Dodgers, too. But his fans at Holy Angels are among his best.
Aimée Dyrek, principal at Holy Angels School, said she is blessed to call Sciarra a friend.
“He is a gift to our community and has much to share with our young people. When you hear Peppy speak of his experience you can truly feel this love of God, our country, and his family. Living over 100 years, there is nothing he takes for granted. He is a true example of living faith. We are blessed that he is with us and shares his life lessons with our children.”
Sciarra said he does have a message for his country, “that they have to know about all veterans and what they go through in combat and after. And not to forget.”
A recent concession to age is his use of a walker, “my walking is just a little off,” he said.
But what keeps him going now are his family, including three generations of “Josephs” among his two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Friends from church and his speaking engagements are gearing up to celebrate Sciarra’s 101st birthday on Dec. 21.
Sciarra half-jokingly says he can’t figure out why he’s still around, even as he is booked for more speaking engagements, another chance to talk about his Army buddies, so many of whom did not return home.
“God’s been so good to me, we have a good relationship,” Sciarra said. “And I’ve got stories to tell.”