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Dominic “Brownie” Marino
Bristolian and Purple Heart recipient loved to dance.
By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com
Dominic Marino is more affectionately known as “Brownie,” but is also known as a military hero with a Purple Heart, a long-time husband, a dedicated man in the community, and one heck of a dancer.
Staff sergeant Dominic “Brownie” Marino was drafted into the army when he was 21 and was sent for 16 weeks basic training to Camp Livingston in Louisiana.
Home to the 28th Infantry Division, it was first known as Camp Tioga and renamed Camp Livingston in honor of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase.
Brownie's next assignment was in Camp Gordon Johnston. Acres of beaches and woods along the shores of North Florida were converted to a base with the sole purpose of training amphibious soldiers and their support groups.
This Florida facility trained over a quarter million men for amphibious assaults during World War II, readying them to embark upon the Great Crusade.
The next stop for Brownie was Camp Pickett located in Blackstone, Va., about 30 miles west of Petersburg where there was enough land, water and other resources needed to establish a post large enough to simultaneously train more than one infantry division. This site of logistical efficiency also offered easy railroad access to both mountain and coastal training sites.
Brownie then left the U.S. for England and then Tenby, Wales, and most likely received one of history’s most discouraging pep talks, “Good bye and good luck.”
His responsibility was to create the correct setting of the elevation, traverse and charge to position guns and establish an outpost line of resistance to cover an entire mile or more radius area with 60-mm mortar and machine guns. The results of a single, well-executed barrage could be decisive, and equally appalling.
After the D-Day invasion, he ventured through France from July 19 until November 10 in 1944 when he was seriously injured in action by a sniper shot in the shoulder that traversed straight through his back. Battle in the dense impenetrable conifer Hürtgen Forest, barely 50 square miles east of the Belgian–German border was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude." He was transferred from the front lines to a school house in Belgium where he was operated on and remained in a hospital in Paris for 2 weeks. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
***
Brownie, the youngest of five children, grew up on Butler Street in Trenton’s famed Chambersburg neighborhood also known as “The ‘Burg.”
Brownie played baseball and football in school and as a kid, he played hardball and pitched quoits, using real horseshoes “the ones you put on a horse; metal, steel.”
Dominic was married to his wife, Yolanda, for 63 years from 1945 until her death in 2008. The couple was married in St. Ann Church and lived on Wood Street in the Zefferi home before moving to Winder Village. They moved back into the Borough, purchasing a home on Wood Street about 30 years ago.
They had three children: Bristol Borough resident Dominic John Marino (Brownie, Jr.), Levittown resident Maryann, and Jennett.
***
Brownie worked in the Fort Dix Army Camp carpentry shop for 26 years expertly woodworking for the GIs and their wives. He has designed handcrafted furniture in his small basement workshop for almost every family member.
He also was an integral part of the construction crew for the Italian Mutual Aid-Fifth Ward Association building on Wood Street.
***
Despite this busy life, Brownie, along with his late wife, had a true passion for dancing.
Brownie and Yolanda belonged to the Bordentown Elks and went dancing there. It was the Paso Doble Ballroom every Friday night for the foxtrot, jitterbug, Lindy Hop, and the Cha Cha, an offshoot of the Mambo.
Brownie danced even through his service tenure. His favorite music is any music during the swing era, Big Bands and all the Sinatra songs,
“You can dance to it," said Brownie. "I don’t know the words. I didn’t think about words!”
***
Correspondent Cate Murway contributed to this article.
By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com
Dominic Marino is more affectionately known as “Brownie,” but is also known as a military hero with a Purple Heart, a long-time husband, a dedicated man in the community, and one heck of a dancer.
Staff sergeant Dominic “Brownie” Marino was drafted into the army when he was 21 and was sent for 16 weeks basic training to Camp Livingston in Louisiana.
Home to the 28th Infantry Division, it was first known as Camp Tioga and renamed Camp Livingston in honor of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase.
Brownie's next assignment was in Camp Gordon Johnston. Acres of beaches and woods along the shores of North Florida were converted to a base with the sole purpose of training amphibious soldiers and their support groups.
This Florida facility trained over a quarter million men for amphibious assaults during World War II, readying them to embark upon the Great Crusade.
The next stop for Brownie was Camp Pickett located in Blackstone, Va., about 30 miles west of Petersburg where there was enough land, water and other resources needed to establish a post large enough to simultaneously train more than one infantry division. This site of logistical efficiency also offered easy railroad access to both mountain and coastal training sites.
Brownie then left the U.S. for England and then Tenby, Wales, and most likely received one of history’s most discouraging pep talks, “Good bye and good luck.”
His responsibility was to create the correct setting of the elevation, traverse and charge to position guns and establish an outpost line of resistance to cover an entire mile or more radius area with 60-mm mortar and machine guns. The results of a single, well-executed barrage could be decisive, and equally appalling.
After the D-Day invasion, he ventured through France from July 19 until November 10 in 1944 when he was seriously injured in action by a sniper shot in the shoulder that traversed straight through his back. Battle in the dense impenetrable conifer Hürtgen Forest, barely 50 square miles east of the Belgian–German border was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude." He was transferred from the front lines to a school house in Belgium where he was operated on and remained in a hospital in Paris for 2 weeks. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
***
Brownie, the youngest of five children, grew up on Butler Street in Trenton’s famed Chambersburg neighborhood also known as “The ‘Burg.”
Brownie played baseball and football in school and as a kid, he played hardball and pitched quoits, using real horseshoes “the ones you put on a horse; metal, steel.”
Dominic was married to his wife, Yolanda, for 63 years from 1945 until her death in 2008. The couple was married in St. Ann Church and lived on Wood Street in the Zefferi home before moving to Winder Village. They moved back into the Borough, purchasing a home on Wood Street about 30 years ago.
They had three children: Bristol Borough resident Dominic John Marino (Brownie, Jr.), Levittown resident Maryann, and Jennett.
***
Brownie worked in the Fort Dix Army Camp carpentry shop for 26 years expertly woodworking for the GIs and their wives. He has designed handcrafted furniture in his small basement workshop for almost every family member.
He also was an integral part of the construction crew for the Italian Mutual Aid-Fifth Ward Association building on Wood Street.
***
Despite this busy life, Brownie, along with his late wife, had a true passion for dancing.
Brownie and Yolanda belonged to the Bordentown Elks and went dancing there. It was the Paso Doble Ballroom every Friday night for the foxtrot, jitterbug, Lindy Hop, and the Cha Cha, an offshoot of the Mambo.
Brownie danced even through his service tenure. His favorite music is any music during the swing era, Big Bands and all the Sinatra songs,
“You can dance to it," said Brownie. "I don’t know the words. I didn’t think about words!”
***
Correspondent Cate Murway contributed to this article.
posted by BucksLocalNews at
12:15 PM
1 Comments:
I really enjoyed reading this. I was a friend of his kids growing up. Mr. Marino was a kindly and generous soul and our family has very fond memories of him. But I never knew about his eventful life; thanks for writing it!
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