Arthur Rego

Nutley Marine Shot in Vietnam

(Feb. 3, 1966) Marine Corporal Arthur Rego, 21, a 1962 Nutley High School graduate, was killed in action in Vietnam on Wednesday. He is the war's first casualty from Nutley.

Corp. Rego was shot in the head by a sniper while on night patrol last Wednesday (Jan. 26) outside the Da Nang Air Force Base perimeter.

He was assigned to the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment in the Da Nang sector of Vietnam where he was part of the team assigned to guard the air strip and the newly liberated village of LeMay.

Corp. Rego completed his third anniversary with the Marine Corps three days before he was killed. He had been in Vietnam with the Third Marine Division since June.

Rego completed basic training with the Marines at Parris Island and then at Camp Lejeune. Before his assignment to Vietnam, he was in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay and on a cruise to France, Spain and England.

When he returned to the United States, he was promoted to the rank of corporal and then went on to Camp Pendleton, Calif., and then by way of Hawaii and Okinawa, on to Vietnam.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rego of Memphis Avenue., Arthur Joseph Rego was born Aug. 2, 1944 in Columbus Hospital, Newark.

His family resided in Nutley all his life. Arthur attended Lincoln School and was a member of the Boy Scouts. At Nutley High he played football during his freshman year, but then developed a charley horse. To keep busy, he took a part-time job after school, first with Wise Potato Chips, and then with Power Pipe and Supply Co., Passaic. He worked at the latter firm following his graduation until entering the Marine Corps on Jan. 23, 1963.

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Salvatore Pillitteri

Young Army Officer, Former Rodino Appointee to West Point, Dies in Skidding Crash

(Jan. 30, 1957) – Friday, Jan. 25, on Route 1, near North Brunswick, Lt. Salvatore Pillitteri, 23, of Brown Street, was one of three killed in a collision of skidding cars as the Nutley youth, a one-time student a the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was returning home from Fort Dix.

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Thomas E. Van Houten

Thomas E. Van Houten was born February 15,1947, and lived in Nutley, NJ with his parents Bertha and John, and siblings, John Jr., and twin brother, Richard.  Thomas graduated from Nutley High School in 1965 and enjoyed bowling.

Van Houten entered the US Army on May 16, 1966 and served in Company C in the 5th battalion of the 9th Infantry Division where he attained the rank of Private First Class (PFC/E3).

On January 24, 1967, Van Houten was killed in action in South Vietnam.  He was 19 years old.

He was awarded the Purple Heart.

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Souren Avedisian

(January 22, 1943) -- Lengthening the list of casualties in World War II was the news this week of the death of 2nd Lt. Souren Avedisian, a flight instructor with the army air forces, while on active duty in Cold Springs, Texas.
     Son of Mr. and Mrs. Shahag Avedisian of 2 Alexander Avenue, Nutley, he was employed by his father, a rug manufacturer, before enlisting.

     Souren was a graduate of Nutley High School. He has three brothers in the service.

Michael Halpin

Private First Class Michael Patrick Halpin, of Brookdale Street, died Jan. 19, 1967, in Tah Ninh, Vietnam "from injuries received while on combat operations when engaged with hostile forces in a firefight," the Army said.

Halpin, who would have been 22 on Feb. 28, is the fourth Nutley man to die in the war.

Born in Newark, Halpin received his early education at St. Thomas the Apostle grammar school, Bloomfield. He played Little League baseball for three years. He attended Nutley High School, and was active in the Catholic Youth Organization.

At Nutley High, Halpin's friends called him "Murf." He liked mathematics and pop records, was out for the football squad in senior year and a member of extracurricular clubs.

After graduation, he worked two years at a trucking company before enlisting in the Army in March 1967. His tour of duty would have been completed in March 1970. However, his family said that at times he contemplated making a career of the Army.

He also planned to marry his high school 'steady,' Carol Lucas of Center Street, Nutley, after his enlistment expired.

Halpin is survived by two brothers, Francis, a teaching Brother in the Order of the Sacred Heart, and John, of Clifton; and by a sister, Mrs. Kathleen Wirth of Nutley.

Adapted from The Nutley Sun.

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Charles Haney

Sgt. Charles Haney DiesIn Airplane Crash In South

(January 21, 1944) - Sgt. Charles E. Haney, 27, U.S.M.C., died Jan. 19, as a result of a plane crash, according to a telegram received by his mother Mrs. Irene Haney of Washington Avenue.

Sgt. Haney, 27, was stationed with the Headquarters Squadron, Marine Air Group, Third Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point, N.C.

He is survived by a sister, Louise.

*****

(January 21, 1944) - "We deeply regret to inform you that your son, Sgt. Charles E. Haney, U.S.M.C., died January 19, as a result of a plane crash" is the text of a telegram received last night at 7 o'clock by Mrs. Irene Haney of Washington Avenue.

The message was sent by the commandant at the Marine Air Base at Cherry Point, N.C., and no details were given.

Sgt. Haney, who was 27 years old, was stationed with the Headquarters Squadron, Marine Air Group, Third Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point and it is supposed that the crash occurred during a training flight somewhere in North Carolina.

In a last letter, written on Jan. 9, Sgt. Haney told his mother how he had missed death recently when the engine of his plane had gone dead 7,000 feet up and he and his companion had to bail out. He landed in a field and was dragged some distance by his parachute, while the other flier landed in some pine trees.

Although slightly injured, both men managed to get to a nearby farm house, where they received treatment for shock. They were then sent to a hospital for observation but were discharged in a few days when no serious injuries developed.

The death of her son takes Mrs. Haney back to World War I, when her husband, the late Sentner Haney, went overseas. After being wounded and gassed, he died in a hospital at Le Mans, France, on Feb. 18, 1919, after a long illness. His body was brought back to the United States and he was buried at his birthplace, Greenville, Tenn., where his son will also be buried.

Mrs. Haney will leave for Greenville tonight where St. Haney will be buried in Andrew Jackson National Cemetery.

Sgt. Haney was born in Oklahoma City and while a young baby was taken by his mother to Greenville, where she had spent most of her life. They remained there until 1934, when they came north to Orange where Sgt. Haney spent two years as a student at the Orange high school.

They moved to this town in 1936 and in 1940, Sgt. Haney, after he had attended a preparatory school at Fort McPherson, Ga., enlisted in the Marine Corps. After being stationed at Iona Island in the Hudson River and at the Navy building in Washington, D.C.,  where he did guard duty, he was transferred to the Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point.

The marine is survived by a sister, Miss Louise Haney, who lives with her mother, Mrs. Haney who is employed as an inspector at the Isolantite plant in Belleville.

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Charles Haney

Sgt. Charles Haney

(January 21, 1944) - Sgt. Charles E. Haney, 27, U.S.M.C., died Jan. 19, as a result of a plane crash, according to a telegram received by his mother Mrs. Irene Haney of Washington Avenue.

Sgt. Haney, 27, was stationed with the Headquarters Squadron, Marine Air Group, Third Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point.

He is survived by a sister, Louise.

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