World War II casualty Francis E. Lovejoy was 'brought home' to Hancock on Tuesday when a stone for him was laid next to his parents' graves. See more photos here.
HANCOCK, Mass. — Yeoman First Class Francis E. Lovejoy was 27 years old and a newlywed on Nov. 13, 1942.
He was serving aboard the USS Atlanta off Guadalcanal as a Japanese convoy attempted to regain control of an Allied-held airfield on the South Pacific island.
The light cruiser had already seen action at Midway and Eastern Solomons, but it wouldn't survive Guadalcanal.
"The Atlanta took 49 shells from a Japanese destroyer on November 13, 1942," according to its history in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
The Atlanta was also in the line of fire of the USS San Francisco, which hit it with eight shells until the mistake was discovered.
Lovejoy was among the 172 killed. The Atlanta was abandoned and sunk.
Little is known about Lovejoy. An only child, he was born in Hancock to Edward and Ida Jones Lovejoy, graduated from Lebanon (N.Y.) High School. He tried a stint on radio as Martin Baxter in the Boston area, getting a sketch he wrote on a Rudy Vallee broadcast. It apparently didn't work out: he enlisted in the Navy in 1935 and was assigned to the West Coast.
He married Dorothy Barraclough on March 21, 1942, in Pittsfield, where his mother was living at the time.
Only eight months later, Dorothy received the dreaded telegram informing her that her husband had been killed in action. In 1944, she was presented with her husband's Purple Heart.
She remarried about eight years after becoming a widow and lived a long life. Dorothy Lovejoy Brace died in 2009 at the age of 97.
Lovejoy's parents were buried in Hancock. But there didn't appear to be anyone left to remember Francis and nothing to memorialize his service.
On Tuesday, Richard A. Ruether American Legion Post 152 dedicated a marble stone at Hancock Cemetery in honor of the World War II sailor.
"We don't know where or when he died. That is a mystery. The State Department record said killed in action. Those are the only details we have, so we have to assume he was killed in the initial battle when the ship was sunk, and he went down with it," post Commander Ron James said. "That is why we decided to honor him today with this stone in memory of his service and 71 years of being missing out of the town of Hancock."
Though Lovejoy was a native of Hancock, the Williamstown American Legion was responsible for obtaining the 12-by-18-inch stone that carries his name, date of birth, rating and service, and the words "Purple Heart ... Killed in action Guadalcanal."
"We found out through a member who had served in Iraq that the Hancock Historical Society wanted to get a stone for Lovejoy and they had asked the Hancock veterans service office about that," said a legion member who did not want to be named.
Pittsfield License Board Clerk Cori Knowles turned up the marriage certificate but attempts to find out whether any of Lovejoy had any living relatives were fruitless at that point.
Instead, Hancock residents, veterans and members of Post 152 planned the ceremony for Lovejoy in the Hancock Cemetery.
The 48-star flag was to be presented to the Hancock Historical Society but when James asked if there were any relatives present, a nephew of Dorothy raised his hand to claim him as uncle.
"In a sense, Lovejoy has come home to Hancock, as the marble stone does not mark his grave, but memorializes his life," said John Anderson, Hancock veterans agent of the event.
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World War II casualty Francis E. Lovejoy was 'brought home' to Hancock on Tuesday when a stone for him was laid next to his parents' graves. See 
