Italians and Americans will gather Saturday in a small town south of Bologna to dedicate a plaque to a U.S. Medal of Honor recipient.

Pfc. John D. Magrath, a 20-year-old from Connecticut, died on April 14, 1945, after performing a series of heroic acts during a battle against German soldiers near the town of Castel d’Aiano. Shortly thereafter, he was posthumously given the highest award for bravery in the U.S. military.

Assigned to Company G, 85th Infantry Regiment, he is the only soldier assigned to the 10th Mountain Division to receive the award.

A small group of soldiers from the Southern European Task Force Augmentation Unit in Vicenza will participate in a wreath-laying at 10 a.m. and plaque dedication at 11:30 a.m.

Members of the division’s veterans association are also scheduled to attend. The town will hold a luncheon in their honor afterwards.

According to the association’s Web site, 997 soldiers from the division were killed in Italy during World War II. Several hundred are buried at the American Cemetery near Florence.

Magrath, whose remains were returned to the States, is credited with a series of valiant acts in the battle in which he was killed. According to his medal citation, he captured a German machine gun position, used that gun to neutralize two other machine gun pits and killed at least six more enemy combatants before he was mortally wounded.