Thursday, 4:30 PM
Mourners bid goodbye to World War I vet
(Lisa Poole for The Boston Globe)
An honor guard for the Massachusetts National Guard escorted the hearse carrying the body of World War I veteran Antonio Pierro to his burial today at the Swampscott Cemetery.
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
SWAMPSCOTT -- The casket of the last surviving World War I veteran in Massachusetts rolled out of St. John the Evangelist Church today accompanied by a six-man honor guard as mourners sang a somber rendition of "America the Beautiful."
Outside the church, a seventh member of the honor guard carefully unfolded an American flag and draped it over the coffin of Antonio Pierro, who died Thursday at Grosvenor Park nursing home in Salem a week short of his 111th birthday. He was believed to be the oldest living veteran in the country before his death.
Pierro emigrated from Italy in 1914 and three years later was drafted into the US Army and sent back to Europe. He served for 18 months as an artilleryman in France.
"He lived out his whole life in gratitude for what he had found here" in the United States, said the Reverend Dennis Burns, who celebrated the Mass today at St. John the Evangelist. "He is united with comrades of his who gave their life in that world war in which he fought to end all wars."
Pierro's death left only seven remaining World War I veterans on the rolls of the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
(Globe File Photo)
Antonio Pierro, pictured at age 107, died Thursday a week short of his 111th birthday.
