Armand E. "Army" Sergiacomi was born on January 26, 1919 in Corona, New York. The young shortstop signed with the New York Yankees in 1938 and was assigned to Butler of the Pennsylvania State Association where he batted .300 with 43 RBIs in 98 games.

He was with Amsterdam of the Canadian-American League in 1939 where his fiery temper got him suspended for 90 days in August for tearing off the mask of umpire Fred Melton during a heated argument. Sergiacomi joined Akron of the Middle-Atlantic League in 1940. Climbing steadily up the system he joined Norfolk of the Piedmont League in 1941 and was with Binghamton of the Class A Eastern League in 1942.

He entered military service at the end of the season and served with the Army Air Force. On August 18, 1944, Corporal Sergiacomi was assigned to the 766th Bomb Squadron of the 461st Bomb Group at Torretta Field in Italy. Eight days later - on August 26 - he was part of Second Lieutenant Howard O Wilson's B-24 crew that took part in the first raid on Yugoslavia. After bombing Otopeni Airdrome near Bucharest the B-24 was damaged by enemy flak and the crew was forced to bail out. Sergiacomi was captured by enemy forces and spent the remainder of the war at Stalag Luft IV in Germany.

Sergiacomi was 27 when he returned to the United States. He had missed three vital years of his career and quit organized baseball to play semi-pro ball with Arma AA in the Metropolitan Baseball Association in New York.