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.
