Primitivo Gutierrez, III, turns 94 and then cooks for VFW, PLAV

Primitivo Gutierrez, III, the oldest member of Belleville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #4434, celebrated his 94th birthday on Friday, April 5. He had promised to cook a meal for VFW and Polish League of American Veterans members and on Saturday, he did, to celebrate his birthday.
He was born April 5, 1925 and served in the Navy in World War II from 1943 to 1945 in the European Theatre – Italy, North Africa, Belgium, France – and then his ship went through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Theatre. He came to the Belleville area from Detroit in 1947 and has been here ever since.
He is part of the VFW Honor Guard and never missed a veteran’s funeral. He and his wife, Sarah Jane, had 12 children. She died in 2009 and his son Jeff and family moved in with him to keep watch over him. His son Primitivo IV also is a member of VFW Post 4434, and is called “Primo Quattro” to differentiate between the two.