CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Erwin Shaftsbury King was about six years older than James Pierce when he joined the Marines. 

 

Pierce, now 92, grew up near the King family on West Road, where he still lives. He remembered King as just one of the kids.

 

"We were all neighborhood kids. We all played together," he said. "He was one of the kids, we always had a good time together, because those days you had to make your own fun. You didn't have television."

 

King had left Drury High in North Adams just six weeks after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the Marines and never returned home — until now. 

 

Community members, veterans and local officials turned out in Clarksburg and North Adams to greet the returning hero, who died 82 years ago at the Battle of Guadalcanal. Attempts to recover King's remains, and nine others who died with him on Sept. 24, 1942, had been unsuccessful for decades until their graves were uncovered six years ago. 

 

On Friday, he was escorted by police and Dalton American Legion Riders from Bradley International Airport to Clarksburg, for a brief wreath-laying ceremony, and then to Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals in North Adams. 

 

Pierce, who retired from North Adams Regional Hospital 30 years ago, is likely one of the few people who knew King though he still has nieces and nephews in the area.