Honoring Troy’s veterans

Every Sunday through Veteran’s Day, The Record will publish brief profiles of the brave men and women honored by their family and friends with banners hung around Troy through the work of the Troy Military Banner Committee. This week, we recognize five alumni of LaSalle Institute who were killed in action during the Vietnam War. To honor a veteran, contact the committee by email at troybanners@gmail.com, on Facebook at www. facebook.com or through its website at www.troymilitarybanners.com.

Marine 1st Lt. Donald J. Egan

Egan, 2nd PLT B CO, 3rd Antitank BN, 3rd MARDIV, III MAF, United States Marine Corps, was born in Troy on April 26, 1942and graduated from LaSalle Institute in 1960. After graduation, he attended St. Michael’s College in Winooski Park, Vermont, along with several of his LaSalle classmates. While at St. Michael’s, Bucky enlisted in the Marines and attended Officer Training School in Quantico, Virginia, during the summer of both his junior and senior years. Upon completion, he was promoted to second lieutenant.

During a short leave, he married his college sweetheart, Elise, and was then assigned to infantry training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. with a specialty in ONTOS tanks. His training continued at Camp Pendleton, California, and upon completion, he was rapidly deployed to Vietnam to support and lead his fellow Marines. He was in continuous combat with his platoon, especially in the Quang Tri Province. Egan was promoted to first lieutenant in the field and became the ONTOS tank commander for his platoon. While patrolling the demilitarized zone in Quang Tri Province in his ONTOS on Feb. 12, 1967, however, Egan and four fellow Marines from his platoon were killed when their tank ran over a bomb. Egan was survived by his wife, Elise, and their two young daughters, Christine and Kelly, as well as his brother, fellow LaSalle alum John, and his parents, Donald and Mary.

Army Capt. Bernard J. Wait

Wait was born February 18, 1931, and grew up in Wynantskill with his older brothers, Leon and John, and a younger sister, Mary. He loved sports, hunting and working on cars, and he especially loved attending LaSalle Institute, where he played football for four years and was an all-star tackle, and also competed on the rifle team and glee team and even played in the band. In his junior year, he was voted class president, and he was chosen top squad sergeant and commissioned as captain of Company A in his senior year. After graduation in 1950, Wait spent his time working, playing semi-pro football with the Glens Falls Commodores and racing cars, winning races at many area tracks, including Pine Bowl, White’s Beach and Route 66 Speedway.

Wait married Edith Volkman in 1952and lived in Wynantskill until he decided to join the U.S. Army. He had joined the State Guard in 1943at age 13and moved up to the National Guard in 1946. In 1956, Bernie was stationed in Germany with the famed 82nd Airborne Division and was sent to Vietnam on Jan. 13, 1966, as a replacement with the 12th Air Cavalry Division Company B.

Just nine days later Wait and the platoon he led was directed to clear a landing zone in Bong Son to be used to evacuate wounded soldiers. While clearing the landing, the unit came under heavy automatic weapons fire from the Viet Cong, and Wait became separated from his squad as it were driven back from a sand pit to a tighter perimeter. He was initially listed as missing in action, but after a search in which another soldier was killed and two others wounded, his body was recovered the next day. Wait was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart.

Army Capt. James J. Masotti

Masotti was born March 19, 1938, in Troy, the youngest of five children and grew up with his family on 10th Street. He enrolled at LaSalle Institute in 1951and graduated in 1955as a cadet captain and was accepted to Virginia Military Institute. He graduated with honors from VMI in 1959and was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. Masotti was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and served after graduation in the Army Reserve while he worked for Alcoa. He married Laura Decker were married Aug. 8, 1959, and decided he wanted to transfer to the infantry and go on active duty, becoming an Airborne Ranger at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned in 1962to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where his son, James John, was born. While there, Masotti received orders for Vietnam and reported Nov. 28, 1964. to serve as assigned as a MACV Advisor to the South Vietnamese Army.

Six months later, on May 28, 1965, he was killed in a mid-air crash between two helicopters over Bien Hoa Air Base. Services were held at St. Peter’s Church in Troy, where LaSalle cadets formed an honor guard at the entrance to the church. Massotti is buried in St Mary’s Cemetery in Troy. His son, James John Masotti, is a 1980graduate of LaSalle.

William F. McNulty

Marine Petty Officer 3rd Class William F. McNulty