Attilio (Ted) Micci was born 100 years ago in his parents’ home in Chicago Heights. Massimo and Frances Rotaloni Micci emigrated from Marche, Italy, and settled in the Hungry Hill Italian neighborhood of the city. Micci’s maternal grandparents lived across the street, and his aunts and uncles lived down the block. They all shared Sunday dinners together. Micci loved everything his mother prepared. “She was a pretty good cook,” he says.

Micci graduated from Garfield Grade School and attended Bloom High School before transferring to Joliet Central High School when his family moved. After graduating, he was employed as an apprentice electrician until joining the Army Air Forces in October 1942 with three buddies. “In order to get what we wanted, like the Air Force, we volunteered,” he says. “I was interested in airplanes.”