EMERSON—On Day 5 of the Allied landings at Normandy, France, a meat grinder that led to the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe from Nazi control, Peter Jacullo, at La Pointe du Hoc, leaped from a Norwegian ship carrying black gunpowder, got himself ashore, ran through hell on Earth, and delivered the ship’s manifest, as he was supposed to.
He managed not to get shot or blown up, as had happened to many other young warfighters arriving and landing in the chaotic invasion.
Then he stayed for months, clearing mines and other hazards.
It’s amazing, but also a typical story in the life of Jacullo, who just turned 104 and was honored with his namesake day in the borough, Friday, Nov. 25.
He still lives in the house he built here in 1949. He was a councilman here in the 1950s, and served on the planning and zoning boards, and was the borough’s welfare director.
He was commander of American Legion Post 269, twice, and not long ago was instrumental in shepherding the lease of post land behind the now-former DeBaun House to Bergen County’s Housing Development Corp., leading to the construction of 14 affordable-housing units for disabled veterans.
Not bad for a kid who, at 10, snuck off to ride the rails and see the country when he was supposed to be at Boy Scout camp.
According to his daughter Jean, Jacullo has been back to Normandy several times, and brought his grandkids along for the ride, into the living history of their family and nation.
Jacullo had dreamed of flying with the U.S. Army Air Forces, predecessor of the U.S. Air Force. He didn’t get in, having been screened out over a test on colorblindness. He explored training with air forces in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and was offered flight deck training shy of piloting.
That wouldn’t wash for Peter Jacullo.
But, service is service.He served with the Civilian Conservation Corps — getting in under age with a $1 fake birth certificate and an alias, Peter Macullo — for a summer working on such unglamorous but essential public projects as tree removal and road, bridge, and sidewalk building. His family needed the money.
In his late teens he paid for flying lessons with Dorothy Fulton, whom the National WASP WWII Museum now celebrates as a pioneer. (Check our her story there: “No pilot expects the propeller to drop off an airplane. But that is how 19-year-old Dorothy Fulton Slinn came to be hanging, without power, 2,000 feet in the air over populous Teaneck, N.J., her hometown.”)
His Army days took him to Panama and the Pacific, and then he was deployed to England. By the end of August 1944 Northern France was liberated, and the Allies reorganized for the drive into Germany, where they would meet with Soviet forces advancing from the east to bring an end to the Nazi Reich.
Jean Jacullo told us on Nov. 31 that the borough’s proclamation and celebration of her dad came about after he missed the borough’s annual Veterans Day observance this year. Mayor Danielle DiPaola had noticed.
“Oh, it was so lovely and it happened because the mayor is such a lovely woman. She is unbelievable. She’s so interested in the people in town,” Jean said.
“He didn’t go to the Veterans Day [ceremony], so the next day she came up to make sure he was OK, and she brought him some cookies, and I happened to be there. A friend suggested the borough might do something for him, because he is getting up there, and the mayor was all in,” she said.
She said her mom and dad grew up on same block in Wood-Ridge, and were friends. They dated after high school, and when he got back from the war they were married in September.
Emerson’s proclamation
Whereas millions of Americans are now living longer, more productive lives and have contributed to society by giving their time and talents by volunteering in many ways; and
Whereas, the Borough of Emerson is so fortunate to have among its residents a centenarian who exemplifies that which the strength of America was built on; and
Whereas, Peter Jacullo, a former borough councilman for approximately four years, a member of the Zoning Board, welfare director, and public servant in other capacities in town will turn 104 years old on Nov. 25, 2022; and;
Whereas, Peter Jacullo was born on the Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Nov. 25, 1918, later moving with his family to Wood-Ridge in 1919; and
Whereas, Peter Jacullo is a U.S. Army veteran who fought in the Battle of Normandy and is an airplane enthusiast who learned how to fly at 18; and
Whereas, Peter Jacullo married his wife, Ines, in 1945 and moved to Emerson in 1949, where they built their own house; and
Whereas, Peter Jacullo and his wife were blessed with a loving family that includes three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; and
Whereas, in 2018, Peter Jacullo was chosen by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5) as a Fifth District Hometown Hero, representing Emerson; and
Whereas, Peter Jacullo has led his life in a manner that brings honor to the Borough of Emerson and the Borough is fortunate and privileged to celebrate his special day with him.
Now therefore, be it resolved, by the Mayor of the Borough of Emerson, that we acknowledge and applaud the life of Peter Jacullo and do hereby proclaim that Friday, Nov. 25, 2022 is Peter Jacullo Day in the Borough of Emerson.