Details of the 94-year-old U.S. Army veteran’s incredible journey came to light when it was put into the Congressional Records by U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-California, in a private ceremony late last week. Scarfo was then honored during a City Council meeting in Torrance, California, Tuesday.

Scarfo was shocked and surprised when he was honored during the ceremony Tuesday. He was told he needed to go to the council chambers to sign a Final Approval Document, and instead was presented with a framed copy of the Congressional honor.

Despite being away from West Virginia for many years, Scarfo still calls the Mountain State home.

Scarfo grew up in Norton, and was raised speaking only Italian until he was the age of 8. After learning English, Scarfo graduated from Elkins High School and then earned a degree from Davis & Elkins College. That’s when things started to get interesting.

Frank Scarfo, 94, served with the Army in Italy in the 1950s, after training at the Counter Intelligence Corps School.

Scarfo registered for the draft in 1950, and while serving in the Army, officials became aware of his fluency in Italian. He was sent to the Counter Intelligence Corps School in Fort Holabird, Maryland, where he was trained as a counterintelligence officer — or, in other words, a spy.

After training, Scarfo was sent off to Livorno, Italy, where he was asked to help root out the Italian Communist Party during the Korean War. Scarfo infiltrated these hostile groups and made arrests of those involved, officials said this week.

He and other U.S. agents received weekly top secret files that included a list of targets to go after. The group of armed secret agents uncovered many potentially dangerous enemy operatives who were working for the U.S. Army in Livorno, Pizza and Florence.

The cover name for the operation was the “Labor Control Detachment,” details of which remain secretive to this day. Scarfo served his country for two years in Italy, supporting the 4th Logistical Command, and went on to serve four years with the Army Reserve, where he became a sergeant.

Scarfo left the military to return home and care for his ailing parents back in West Virginia. He later moved to California, where his sister Rose opened an Italian Restaurant in Lomita. The restaurant, ironically, was located next door to Chuck Norris’ karate studio. Norris, an actor and martial arts expert, often played roles that were similar to Scarfo’s actual life in the Army.

Because of his skills and education, Scarfo landed a job with the Aerospace Corporation soon after arriving in California. While at Aerospace, he worked with space pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun, a German defector who was one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration in the 20th century. Scarfo was part of the hardware development for the successful moon landings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.