The first time Ciro Rocco came to the U.S., he was a prisoner of war. A truck driver in the Italian Army in North Africa during World War II, he was captured by the British during the Siege of Tobruk, Libya, in 1941. He was among the Italian soldiers who were turned over to American forces and brought to the U.S. for the duration of the war.

“He said that was the best thing that could have happened to him,” his son, Michael, said. “He was at various camps in the U.S. He picked cotton in Arkansas. He cut trees down in Nebraska. He was treated very well. The food was good and he was paid for the work he did.” When the war ended, he was repatriated to Italy. He brought his young family back to this country in 1956 to join his wife’s relatives in Buffalo.