Waite, Carold Rex,  2nd Lt. USMC (KIA)

Carold Rex Waite

July 15, 1930 - March 6, 1967

Penn State Unit Staff as Gunny Sergeant 1961-1964

Second Lieutenant Carold Rex Waite, 36 year old step son of Mrs. Opal Dodd, Shelbyville, MO, was killed in Vietnam Monday, March 6th, according to a telegram received Friday by Mrs. Dodd.  The telegram implies and other information reveals that Waite was evidently killed by a North Vietnamese “booby trap” while engaged in hostility with Vietcong troops near the Quan Tri Republic area.

Rex Waite was born on July 15, 1930 at Newark, the son of Stephen Waite and Mrs. Ruby Myers Waite.  His mother died when he was very small and his father died in Shelbyville in 1948.  Waite graduated from Shelbyville High School, class of 1948, and enlisted in the Marine Corps on July 4, 1948.

After receiving his basic training at Paris Island, South Carolina, he was assigned to Camp Lejune, North Carolina.  Following his training in Camp Lejune he was sent to Korea for a period of about 2 years. 

Receives Bronze Star:  While in Korea, Waite was wounded and received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart  for his meritorious duty in the line of defense.

Following his duty in Korea he was recruiting Sergeant in Popular Bluff for two years and in Quincy, Illinois, one year.  From Quincy he went to Penn. State College, Boalsburg, Penn., where he was an instructor in military tactics for three years.

Waite was then transferred back to Paris Island as an instructor.  From there he went to VietNam.  Toward the end of 1966 he was sent back to Okinawa for special training and had evidently just returned to VietNam a few days before he was killed.

Waite, a career Marine, had completed 18 years active duty service last July.  He came up through the ranks, having been promoted to Second Lieutenant from Master Sergeant last year (1966). 

Rex Waite and Rosemary Fazonchik of New Jersey were married on February 3, 1953.  They are the parents of one son, Randy Rex, 10 years old.  Other survivors include his step mother, Mrs. Opal Dodd; two brothers, Max Waite of Popular Bluff and Blaine Waite of Shelbyville;   four step-sisters, Mrs. Eddie Jones, Monmouth, Ill,, Mrs. Pat Patterson, Peoria, Ill., Mrs. George Arment, Shelbyville and Mrs. Eugene Engle, Shelbyville.

Services in Carolina:  The body is being returned to the home of Rex and his family in Port Royal, South Carolina.  Funeral services and burial will be held at Beaufort, South Caroline on Monday, March 20, 1967.  The body will lie in state at the Anderson Funeral Home, Beaufort and the services will be at the Baptist church.