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The memorial honor roll and flagpole have been a source of pride for the residents of Biddle since 1957. The names engraved on the stone are among Biddle's finest.

"The original flagpole deteriorated and presented a dangerous situation. We wanted to replace it, so we held an open meeting in July to determine the type of fund-raising we'd use for the project," said Bill DeZorzi, treasurer of the Biddle Veterans' Association.

Letters were sent out to all the residents of Biddle and to families of deceased veterans asking for their support.

The response was overwhelming, netting $3,000 from the one mailing.

"We received enough donations to pay for the new flagpole and to help set up a general maintenance fund for the memorial," DeZorzi said.

The new flagpole, which cost about $1,400, was installed on Aug. 17. Volunteers from the Circleville Fire Department removed the old flagpole.

The new flagpole will be formally dedicated on Memorial Day 2005.

"It is our duty to take care of the flagpole because so many of the guys aren't around anymore," said Bruno Valenti, now of Circleville. Valenti was attached to the Army's 25th Infantry during the Korean Conflict. "I think about all the boys who went to World War II and Korea. I knew all of them and I think about them all the time."

"If it weren't for our veterans from World War II and Korea we wouldn't be walking on free soil today," said Alice Marsiglio.

Livio Vieceli, John Garbin and Joseph Doshen spent their boyhood years in the tiny town in North Huntingdon Township once owned by the Westmoreland Coal Co. They died in Europe serving their country during World War II.

Vieceli was 28 years old when he was executed by the Germans on March 26, 1944. He was part of the Operation Group of the Office of Strategic Services and a member of the paratroopers, Company A 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion.

"Livio volunteered for extra hazardous duty," said Delores Vieceli, his sister-in-law and a 46-year resident of Biddle. "He was based in Corsica and participated in Operation Ginny. They were trying to destroy a tunnel in Italy that was a line of communications for the Germans."

On the morning of March 24, 1944, Livio Vieceli and 14 other soldiers were captured by a search party of Fascist militia and German soldiers.

"The soldiers' bodies were discovered in April 1945," said Delores Vieceli. "They had been buried in a mass grave. After their bodies were found and exhumed, Livio was reburied in the Florence U.S. Military Cemetery in Italy."

German Gen. Anton Dostler, who ordered the executions, was tried as a war criminal in October 1945 and executed two months later.

Four other Vieceli siblings are also listed on the memorial: Gildo, Delores' late husband; Louis, also deceased; Frank, now 97, of Jeannette, and Blanche Vieceli Wells, also of Jeannette, who was a member of the Women's Army Corps.

Marsiglio will never forget her mother's screams as she read the telegram announcing the death of her young son, John Garbin. He was a member of the 82nd Glider Infantry killed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, when his glider was shot down.

"My brother had to quit school and go to work at age 17 because my father had been in a mining accident and couldn't work," said Marsiglio. "John worked at the Nixon Hotel in Pittsburgh as a busboy before he was drafted in September 1943."

The family never saw him after November 1943, when Garbin came home for a Thanksgiving furlough.

"He was sent home with his duffel bag. My mother knew he wouldn't make it home for a long time," said Marsiglio. "She never realized that he would never make it back home."

Mildred Grushecky was born and raised in Biddle, as was her brother, Joseph Doshen, a quiet, athletic young man who was drafted at age 18.

"My brother came home from boot camp for a short furlough before being sent to Europe," said Grushecky. "When we took him back to Greensburg to catch the train, my dad told my mother in Serbian that he didn't think Joe was going to come home. He had a funny feeling about it."

Doshen, a U.S. Army private first class, was reported missing in action on August 25, 1944, in southern France.

"It was terrible when we received word that he was missing. We were hoping that he would be OK. Then about two weeks later, we were informed that he had been killed," said Grushecky. "That was a difficult time in Biddle because we knew John Garbin and Livio Vieceli had been killed. Biddle was a big family place and we were all very close. The war and the loss of the young men were difficult for the town.

"After the deaths of the boys, Biddle wasn't the same. It was sad for a long time."

The Biddle Veterans Association was formed in 1953 by a group of World War II veterans spearheaded by Ernie and Jim DeZorzi. The group's first major project was the installation of the memorial honor roll noting the men and women of Biddle who served during World War II and the Korean Conflict. The memorial and flagpole were dedicated in 1957, said Bill DeZorzi, brother of Ernie and Jim DeZorzi.

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