On the last day of 2012 at 0800 hours, Wareham Firefighter Walter Pierce, Jr., hung up his helmet for the last time.

The 65-year-old, who joined the department as a call firefighter when he was "14 or 15," retired after 17 years as a full-time, career firefighter.

"If you were big enough to get on the truck," Pierce recalled of his early days as a member of the call force, "you were big enough to get on the department."

Pierce and his colleagues shared laughs and memories during a bittersweet breakfast held Monday in his honor.

Like the time the duty crew was at the Dunkin Donuts in West Wareham, when a call came in for a car fire on Route 195.

The crew was off, with Pierce at the wheel of Engine 1.

There was just one problem. They forgot Firefighter John Kelley.

"Luckily, we had a station locally…" Chief Robert McDuffy said with a laugh.

Kelley was able to run down the road to one of the department's unstaffed stations, and grab a vehicle.

"We did get the fire out without Johnny," Firefighter Brian Crocker said through laughter.

Or how about the time the guys were responding to the big Bouchard oil spill in Buzzards Bay. The first-responders were putting out absorbent boom to help clean up the spill, but by the time they were instructed to return to shore, it was low tide, and the boat was stuck. Crocker rolled up his pants and guided it.

"I insisted there wasn't enough water there," Pierce said with a smile.

Though there were many laughs over the years, Pierce also responded to some of the most serious recent incidents. He was on a crew that was dispatched to Springfield after tornados ripped through the city in 2011.

"We saw all the devastation," Pierce recalled.

Pierce also helped fight the stubborn fire at the old Ocean Spray complex in East Wareham back in 2010.

Before becoming a career firefighter, Pierce served as a call lieutenant for 10 years and a call captain for four years.

"It's been quite a ride," he said.

Pierce also served 20 years as a leader on the dive team, and was one of the original members of that crew.

"He and Jacques Cousteau took the first class together!" Firefighter David Wahlstrom joked.

The laughs came easily on Monday, as they did many other days in Pierce's long career.

It's those laughs, those people, that camaraderie that he'll miss the most.

"I'm going to miss being here on a regular schedule," Pierce said, "but I'll still be around."

His brothers will miss him, too.

"I wish I had ten of him," Chief McDuffy said. "I definitely don't want to see him go. He's one of the easiest-going guys I know."