When World War II veteran Bartholomew “Bennie” Ficeto recently turned 98, the Stop & Shop where he works as a grocery bagger decided to honor him with a surprise birthday party, which included a cake, a birthday button, and USO singers who performed songs from the 1940s.

Bennie loves working as a bag boy at the Stop & Shop in Edison, New Jersey, and though he is almost 100, he has no plans to retire anytime soon. Bennie loves interacting with the people that he works with and with the customers who come into the store, and he also enjoys the feeling of putting in a hard day’s work. He has been like that all his life, as he joined the United States Air Force at the age of 19. During the war, Bennie worked hard “flying a B-25 Mitchell medium-range bomber over North Africa and Italy.”

After the war, Bennie held many different jobs and eventually retired, but he soon became bored. That’s why he became a grocery bagger, and he now works two four-hour shifts per week at Stop & Shop. His manager Sal Marconi has only nice things to say about Bennie.

“Bennie’s got a great sense of humor,” Sal said. “He loves his job. He’s a great inspiration and morale booster for everyone else.”

Bennie loves working so much that he doesn’t even take his breaks! Instead, he simply works through them since he enjoys it that much. When it came time for his surprise party, Sal and his fellow workers had to literally force him to take a break to celebrate.

Check out his surprise party for yourself below.