The Perricone Quads made history when they made their way into the world on a cold and stormy Halloween 88 years ago and they catapulted a Beaumont family into the public eye.

Maria Concetta “Bessie” Mazzu Perricone and Philip “Filippo” Perrione, of Italian descent, already had five sons and had lost a daughter to complications from the whooping cough when the bundle of four boys came along.

Carl, Donald, Anthony and Bernard Perricone made national headlines many times through the years — they were the second documented set of quadruplets born in the U.S. and the first surviving male quads in the world.

But it was their decision to serve together in the same unit during the Korean War, something that was unheard of at the time — that kept them in the limelight and showed their true patriotism.

As part of the Museum of the Gulf Coast’s Salute to Veterans, the Perricone Quads will be inducted into the museum’s Notable People Gallery. The event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday.

“With the advent of the Korean War, the quads were drafted,” Jody Perricone Holten, a relative, said. “Carl was assigned to an armored tank unit and when the other three boys asked to serve with him, due to a ruling after the loss of the Sullivan brothers in WWII, they were denied. However Bessie wrote a letter to then Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson. She stated, ‘They were born together, they’ve lived together, and if they want to die together, so be it.’ The boys did serve together, two to each tank and came home safely together.”

The Perricones were a proud American family.

“Being an American citizen meant everything to grandma,” Holton said. “No Italian was allowed to be spoken at their home. Grandpa would get shushed, he refused to learn English and spoke just a little strange, all of us could understand him though. To have seven of her nine sons able to serve their country, was a tremendous honor for grandma and grandpa.”

After the war, all four went to work at Pure Oil Refinery. Soon, Anthony decided he truly wanted to be a barber and left the other three, who stayed at Pure Oil/Union 76 until they retired. After coming home, the boys purchased property and developed a private road on which they and two other brothers built homes. The nine boys all worked together and built the six brick homes on Quad Lane.

“Of the nine brothers, only Carl remains,” she said. But there are many, many Perricone’s to proudly carry on the name and traditions of Bessie and Philip Perricone and live their American dream.”