Thousands Welcome Pfc. DeMarsico Home

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Silence overwhelmed thousands of people in downtown North Adams on Wednesday afternoon when Army Pfc. Michael R. DeMarsico II returned home.

DeMarsico,20, was killed Thursday, Aug. 16, while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He returned to a hero's welcome from his hometown.

Route 2 was lined with crowds in small towns from Greenfield to Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals' West Chapels on West Main Street. At about 1 p.m., the 15-vehicle motorcade entered the city and slowly weaved through the streets.

Union Street west to Veterans Memorial Drive was a solid bank of red, white and blue. Multiple groups were handing out flags to onlookers and people held up signs expressing their support for the family, and their grief at the loss of a native son.

Near Center Street an array of veteran's organizations created a flag salute and ladder trucks from the Adams and North Adams fire departments extended over the street to fly a huge American flag.

"This is remarkable... this is a testament to who we are as a community," Mayor Richard Alcombright said of the thousands who attended. "The family will feel so much support and comfort from this outpouring."

Alcombright was gathered with city councilors, Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, and state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, across from St. Joseph's Court.

DeMarsico's arrival was the first of what will be an emotional weekend for residents, many of whom watched the motorcade pass with tear-filled eyes.

The Berkshire County Here at Home Committee, which organizes events for returning soldiers, came out in numbers for Wednesday's homecoming. Member Kathy Mickle said she was not surprised with the turn out and said the tribute was "well deserved."

The hearse was escorted by the Berkshire County sheriff's department, a state police and North Adams police cruisers, two vehicles with immediate family members and motorcyclists including members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group dedicated to ensuring deceased members of the armed forces are treated with respect, and American Legion Riders.

"You never know what it feels like until it hits home," Cariddi said, adding that she, too, was not surprised that so many people had come out to support the DeMarsico family. "North Adams always comes out and always supports their own."

DeMarsico is the city's first casualty of war since Army Sgt. Peter W. Foote III was killed in Vietnam in 1968.
 

2024 Year in Review: North Adams' Year of New Life to Old Institutions

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:42AM / Thursday, January 02, 2025

President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz poses in one of the new patient rooms on 2 North at North Adams Regional Hospital.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On March 28, 2014, the last of the 500 employees at North Adams Regional Hospital walked out the doors with little hope it would reopen. 

 

But in 2024, exactly 10 years to the day, North Adams Regional was revived through the efforts of local officials, BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who was able to get the U.S. Health and Human Services to tweak regulations that had prevented NARH from gaining "rural critical access" status.

 

It was something of a miracle for North Adams and the North Berkshire region.

 

Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and abruptly closed in 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 

 

BMC had renovated the building and added in other services, including an emergency satellite facility, over the decade. But it took one small revision to allow the hospital — and its name — to be restored: the federal government's new definition of a connecting highway made Route 7 a "secondary road" and dropped the distance maximum between hospitals for "mountainous" roads to 15 miles. 

 

"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years," Rodowicz said. "It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated countywide system of care." 

 

The public got to tour the fully refurbished 2 North, which had been sectioned off for nearly a decade in hopes of restoring patient beds; the official critical hospital designation came in August.