S/Sgt Martin S. Waite (ASN 20323598) and 10 other men were lost on a 'routine' flight from Lingling Airbase (in Hunan province) for a short flight to a base at Guilin (in adjacent Guangxi province) on the late afternoon of 28 May 1944, departing during weather conditions 'overcast with thunderstorms.' The Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) lists the cause of the loss as 'unknown'. See the story of the crash here. S/Sgt Martin S. Waite was 28 years old, and was survived by mother, two brothers and three sisters.
Martin S. Waite was born 31 October 1915 in Niagara Falls, New York, to Vernon T. Waite (1879-1939) and Ruth Lenore (Stere) Waite (1879-1955).
He and his family moved to Sinking Valley, Pennsylvania, when he was a small boy. He was educated in the Tyrone township schools and attended Altoona High school. In 1924, at age 8 years he won the "David Corry picture coloring contest" and was recognized for that in the local newspaper. In his young adult years he lived in Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Sinking Valley Lutheran church and Sinking Valley grange, No. 484, Patrons of Husbandry.
Sadly, in 1939, S/Sgt Waite's father passed away at 50 years old.
About a year before the Second World War broke out, Martin Waite become a member of national guard Troop B, 104th Cavalry, Pennsylvania national guard. He described himself as 5’5”, 120 lbs, with blond hair and blue eyes.
After the Pearl Harbor attack in December, 1941, and being already in the national guard, S/Sgt Waite was inducted early, and entered regular service in February, 1941. His national guard troop--composed of 110 men who passed physical requirements--mobilized on February 17th. On the morning of Saturday, March 1, 1941, they left Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Sgt. Waite's younger brother Vernor Waite was also a member of troop and left together with his older brother.
After going to Indiantown Gap Army Post for training, he took part in maneuvers in the Carolinas and later transferred to the Army Air Corps as an aerial gunner, training in South Carolina and Florida. He went overseas to India in May, 1943, and later went to China. He saw much action, and in early 1944, before his final fatal crash, S/Sgt Waite (acting as aerial gunner) and the copilot survived a separate crash, while the rest of the crew perished, after their bomber was shot down.
After the fatal crash of S/Sgt Waite on 28 May 1944, his mother received a message from the war department on Tuesday, June 6, 1944 reporting him killed in the plane crash. The message gave no details of the crash, but said a follow up letter would follow as soon as all the details could be ascertained.
S/Sgt Waite's body was interred temporarily for a few years in China, then after the war ended, his remains were sent stateside, through Honolulu, arriving (among 3,012 caskets in total, including also the bodies of Thayer, Casselberry) on U.S. Army transport S. S.Honda Knot, which sailed under the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco on 10th of October, 1947.
His repatriation marked the first body of a Blair Country, Pennsylvania, WWII soldier to be repatriated from the "Pacific" theater, arriving in Altoona at 1:50 o'clock, October 18, 1947, from the west coast. An honor escort, Sgt. Greigle, accompanied the remains. Burial service had to be delayed for a time as Sgt Waite's body arrived at an unexpectedly early date, and his mother, Ruth (Steer) Waite was still in California, despite having initially planned to be waiting in Altoona for her son's body.
Funeral arrangements for Sgt. Waite were finally completed Sunday, November 9, with the arrival home of the mother from California.
His remains were laid to rest on Wednesday, November 12, in the family plot in the old St. Johns' Lutheran church cemetery in Sinking Valley.
S/Sgt Waite's sister, Lt. Grace Waite, served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in Ireland.
Much appreciation for materials provided at Findgrave.com and from Natalie Norton and B24CoPilotNiece, miac47burmawwii.org and others.