Friends of Marinelli Park and the borough's Historical and Parks Commission will preside over the ceremony, and participating will be local officials, veterans' organizations and members of the community.
Also in attendance will be Michael DiBerardinis, state Secretary of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Col. Paul G. Schafer of the United States Air Force, who is director, secretary and chief of staff of executive action group at the Pentagon, and a 1975 graduate of Downingtown High School.
The park was created from a $121,830 Growing Greener grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Castaldi suggested naming the park after the brothers since their family lived on Washington Avenue and on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Green Street. (The Marinelli family resided in the 100 block of Washington Avenue before later moving to the corner of Jackson Avenue and Green Street.)
Cpl. James Marinelli was killed in Italy on Oct. 8, 1944 and Pfc. Dominic Marinelli was killed in Okinawa on April 14, 1945. James Marinelli also was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for heroic achievement in action on the Fifth Army front in northern Italy.
According to a newspaper at the time, he served in the 337th Infantry Regiment of the 85th Custer Division. "Traveling both day and night through German shellfire and across mined areas, Marinelli worked unceasingly for two days to supply his platoon with ammunition. He fell, mortally wounded, just before reaching the unit's position," said the article.
The two were the sons of Joseph and Flavia Marinelli. Mrs. Marinelli's brother, Tony Duca, also was killed in action on Feb. 14, 1944 in Italy, compounding the subsequent loss of her two sons.
Castaldi heard of the two Marinelli brothers as child, when his father, Dominic Castaldi, told Dan Castaldi and his brother, Nick Castaldi, about how the Marinelli family's hunting dogs howled all night long on the nights when both brothers died. This occurred twice before the family received the telegrams telling them that their sons were dead.
It wasn't until 2001, though, that Dan Castaldi remembered the story again. After approaching council, he also found some of the Marinellis' surviving relatives, Antoinette Vadine, who was the two brothers' aunt and also Tony Duca's sister, and Jim and Joseph Duca, who are Antoinette's nephews.
In turn, all three have provided much help with the project. Antoinette Vadine was able to provide information from her memory. Jim Duca, meanwhile, had a scrapbook containing photographs of his older cousins and newspaper clippings of the stories reporting their deaths. Photocopies of the scrapbook would become instrumental in convincing borough officials that the park deserved the Marinelli moniker.
And Joseph Duca, Jim's brother, has provided construction materials and advised the project.
As a result of Dan Castaldi's request to the borough, and the subsequent press that followed the story, including articles in this newspaper, Nick Castaldi, chairman of Friend s of Marinelli Park, said local people started asking what could be done besides naming the park to honor the two brothers.
"We thought a small plaque would be appropriate," said Nick Castaldi. From there, he said the group raised nearly $4,000 with the help of an auction with artist Phil Silverstone in November 2002.
In the interim, the group began working with the historic and parks commission and the borough with putting plants in along a creek that runs through the park.
The group also began talking to other groups who had done similar memorials and also visited a lot of sites. The main thing, he said, the group learned was that they wanted the memorial to be in a visible area, where pedestrians could walk past it.
One of the groups with whom they worked closely was the Downingtown Veterans Memorial Fund Committee. As a result, Friends of Marinelli Park met Bill Steimer, who was the architect for that group's project. "We gave Bill our ideas and he drew up a plan," said Nick Castaldi.
Originally, the project, which included a walkway from Chestnut Street to the site of the memorial, surrounded by granite benches, was to be completed by Memorial Day 2004. However, because the project was larger than they expected, Nick Castaldi said, that was not able to happen.
However, in the meantime, Brandywine Flags made a donation of an American flag and a flagpole for the park and the day before Memorial Day, a small ceremony was held at the pole with the local VFW, American Legion and Downingtown Veterans Memorial Fund Committee in attendance.
Finally, this past summer the stone was placed for the memorial, and the group contracted with Christopher Smith to do the brickwork for the walkway. Pete Duca, former borough council president and another cousin of the Marinellis, assisted with the brickwork and he and Joe Duca also set the park benches in place, Nick Castaldi said.
Altogether, the stone, plaque and brickwork cost about $3,500, with all of the money raised with private donations.
"Frankly we were a bit naïve when we went to the borough to ask them to name the park after the Marinelli brothers, and we thought that was the end of the story, but it was just the beginning of what would become a two-year journey," said Nick Castaldi. "We're happy to be wrapping it up."
While the work of Friends of Marinelli Park is done, he said, other work still needs to be done, and the group will be there to assist the borough and other groups with the park.
Future plans for the park include a bridge, which will connect a future walkway that is planned from Chestnut Street to Lincoln Avenue. Sons of Italy Lodge 2801 in Malvern and St. Anthony's Lodge of Downingtown has offered to raise the money for the project and local Boy Scout Josh Flasher presented a plan to borough council last week for the bridge for an Eagle Scout project.
Saturday's dedication, in a way, is just the start of another journey. "I think it'll be an everlasting tribute not only for the Marinellis, but also for the town and for the nation as a whole," said Jim Duca.
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