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EBENSBURG - Charles J. Vizzini, a local World War II veteran who spent much of his later years honoring those who gave their lives in the war, died Tuesday at 85.

Remembered by family Thursday as a man dedicated to family, God and patriotism, Vizzini was well known in Cambria County's veterans, political and community circles.

His World War II service guided him to a lifetime of community involvement, his son Charlie Vizzini Jr. said.

"He told me once that he vowed he would spend his life serving people if God let him make it through the war," said Vizzini Jr., 59. "That's what Dad did. He touched a lot of lives."

Vizzini was born in Colver in 1924 and graduated from then-Ebensburg High School in the early 1940s. He joined the Army soon after, and in 1944 he found himself in France in the days following D-Day, where he fought and was later badly injured in battle near Normandy.

As Vizzini often told it, a pocket-sized prayer book saved his life.

"He was heading over a hedge row and a sniper bullet hit him, knocking the top of pens off that were in his front breast pocket and then going through the missalettes in his prayer book," recalled Vizzini Jr. "It shattered his arm but saved the bullet from hitting his heart."

The injury kept Vizzini in a European hospital for nearly a year, family said. After he recovered, he returned to the Ebensburg area with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

He married the former Glendora Waterhouse, his wife of 60 years, and worked for years as the business manager of the state's Ebensburg Center. As a past commander of Ebensburg Post 4963, Veterans of Foreign Wars, he was also a state Democratic Committee member who went to at least two national conventions, Vizzini Jr. added.

"He loved politics and had the opportunity to meet so many people," he said. "To this day, guys like Sen. [Robert] Casey Jr. ask how he's doing when I see them."

He also counted U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-12th District, as a longtime friend.

"Charlie was a great American who dedicated his life to promoting veteran's issues and Democratic values," Murtha said in a statement Thursday. "He will truly be missed."

The longtime Holy Name Catholic Church member got attention more than a decade ago for getting a nativity scene placed in front of the Cambria County courthouse in Ebensburg.

After retiring in the early 1990s, Vizzini increased efforts to honor his fellow veterans.

"When he started seeing some of his buddies pass, he felt a need for people not to forget what they fought for," Vizzini Jr. said. "He was always saying, if it wasn't for those guys, we'd all be speaking German right now."