Clarksburg's Erwin King Laid to Rest 82 Years After Falling at Guadalcanal
Erwin King's niece Judith LaBonte Richard speaks at his funeral at Flynn & Dagnoli Funeral Home on Tuesday.
Veterans, officials, community members and students from King's alma mater Drury High School and from McCann Technical School greeted the funeral procession in Southview Cemetery, where King was laid to rest next to his parents, Erwin and Emilia King, with full military honors. It was 82 years to the day of his death on Guadalcanal.
His remains arrived in the Berkshires on Friday and a brief wreath-laying ceremony was held at Clarksburg Town Hall where his name appears on the town's honor roll.
Raised in Clarksburg, he was unexpectedly born in Shaftsbury, Vt., when his parents' car broke down. They gave him Shaftsbury as his middle name and he would grow up with the nickname "Shazy."
"One of his greatest desires was growing up was to become the United States Marine," said his nephew Bruce LaBonte, who traveled from Bradenton, Fla., to attend his uncle's services Tuesday at Flynn & Dagnoli Funeral Homes.
"After hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor when he was 17, he asked my grandfather if he could enlist in the Marines. He at first refused, but later, after constantly being asked that he wanted to serve his country, he persuaded our grandfather to sign the permission papers to enlist in the Marines."
King had turned 18 years old aboard ship on his way across the Pacific. He came ashore at Guadalcanal on the second day of the battle and was killed with nine others of his company by a Japanese machine gun nest. They were buried near where they fell and attempts to recover them after the war were unsuccessful for more than 70 years.
LaBonte said his grandfather blamed himself for allowing King to enlist but they held out hope that his body would at least be returned and purchased the plot so he could lie beside them.
The Dalton American Legion riders and North Adams Police escorted the funeral procession, which made its way along route in Southview lined with small American flags set out by veterans organizations and high school students representing the 2,883 Bay State service members missing in action.
A Marine detachment stood as pallbearers, honor guard and rifle salute as a Navy chaplain conducted the services. LaBonte was presented with King's dog tags and the flag from his coffin, which contained a full Marine dress uniform.
King's relatives wore brooches with the picture of him in uniform and red, white and blue ribbons created by grandniece Lisa Pruden Miottke. None of the relatives who attended the services were around when King was alive but Miottke said some remember older relatives speaking about him. Most of the relatives were children and grandchildren of King's sisters Lucille King LaBonte and Gertrude King Clarke.
"You have to understand that this is a man that was killed in battle, like five years before I was even born," said LaBonte. "And there was such time period that elapsed before we heard anything that they had found his remains, and we're going to bring him home ... we remembered him, we had photo albums and his picture. But to say I was overwhelmed when I got that phone call would be an understatement. I almost dropped the phone. I could not believe it. After 82 years, my sister on the phone saying, Bruce, you're never going to guess — uncle Shaz has been found."
King's niece Judith LaBonte Richard of New Hampshire, speaking at the funeral, said it was not easy to pay tribute to a man they didn't know.
"However, paying tribute to a hero is an honor. If your sister, our mother, was here today, she would be able to tell the stories of your youth," she said. "She would be able to tell us about your hopes, she would be able to tell us that you were her baby brother and that she loved you dearly and she'd never forgot you. It wasn't until I was much older that I understood and experienced the tears that she shed on Memorial Day holidays, and really why she shed them.
"If your father and mother, our grandfather and grandmother were here today, they would be able to recount that your one grand mission was to be a member of the Marine Corps. And as the story goes, once America entered the war, they gave their your consent to enlist. Your greatest ambition was accomplished. Your sacrifice will never go unnoticed. Your sacrifice will be forever in our heart, your sacrifice is why we are the home of the brave and the lamp of the free."
Among the mourners were Michael and Lisa DeMarsico, whose son Army Pvt. First Class Michael DeMarsico Jr. was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan and buried not far away in Southview. Like King, he was a young man and a Drury alum who had a passion to serve his country. Lisa DeMarsico said her son had always looked up to men like King who fought in World War II.
"It's like he's already up there with Erwin, I know they're sharing stories," she said. "You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."
The city's Veterans Agent Mitchell Kiel, who had a part in coordinating the funeral, said family members described King's return as a miracle.
"It really is the only way to look at it," he said. "Especially knowing that they tried three or four years later and tried twice in the 40s and were unable to locate the location. The fact they were actually able to identify them, and there's still family around, even in the area, and you couldn't ask for a better community turnout."
King's niece Lynda LaBonte Pruden of Pownal, Vt., thanked the Marines, the anthropologists and the scientists who brought King home.
"I can't tell you how much it means to to our family. I know what it means to my mother and my aunts and uncles, my grandparents and all of us here because all of you have come up to us as family honor. We are privileged to have you all here with us today. It is an honor, and I can't say it because they'll bleep me out, but it's a miracle that he is here and we thank you for being here."
Tags: MIA, military funeral, world war,
