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Memorial Day was somber for residents along Delaware Avenue in Glassport, where they fondly remembered the boy they knew as "Little Augie."

August Berg Jr., 13, whose family moved from the neighborhood several months ago, died Sunday when he disappeared beneath the surface while swimming in the Youghiogheny River in White Oak. His body was recovered by divers shortly before midnight after a four-hour search.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy Monday and ruled Berg's death an accidental drowning.

"I've been crying all day," said Yolanda Majzer, Berg's former neighbor and school bus driver who took the boy and his two brothers to South Allegheny Elementary School. "Everybody around here is in shock. Everybody is in mourning."

"He was always smiling with those big blue eyes. He'd be so good on the bus. I'm just so sad over this. This is terrible," Majzer said. "That little boy, he was a joy."

Berg, whose family recently moved to Versailles, was swimming with an 11-year-old girl when he went under, possibly because of wake from a passing boat, White Oak police Chief Joe Hoffman said.

Another boat picked up the girl, who is not related to Berg, but there was no sign of the boy, Hoffman said. The call for help came in at 7:39 p.m., Hoffman said. Divers from Monroeville and Homestead found Berg's body.

"It really breaks my heart, thinking about what he must have went through in those final moments, how scared he must have been," said Nancy Webb, another former neighbor. "It makes me feel so bad. It's really a tragedy."

Guido Dabruzzo said he always called Berg "Little Augie," and the boy always called him "Mister Guido."

"He was a good kid, always taking care of his little brothers. He was adventurous, always looking for snakes, always looking for crickets, always looking for ladybugs. It's really sad. This is really devastating," Dabruzzo said.

"He was always on the go. I'd tell him, 'You got more energy than three kids. Do you have a motor on your tush?' He would always sit in the tree (in his family's front yard). He loved music. You could always hear him singing."

Dabruzzo, Webb and Majzer said the Berg family had financial difficulties and that shortly after they moved from Delaware Avenue to a home on Indiana Avenue in Glassport, they were displaced by a fire.

"The family didn't have a whole lot, so I think he appreciated and valued the things he had and would share with other people," Webb said.

"He would come into the pharmacy and say, 'Miss Nancy, can I have a sucker?' No matter when he came in, he always asked for some to share with others. He would always give up his bike or skateboard for the other little kids to ride."

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