The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast August 10, 1989

     One radio amateur I will always remember is Amory "Bud" Waite, W2ZK, of Oceanport, New Jersey.  Bud was a man of action.  Bud said, "I got hooked on radio when I met a Navy radio operator and saw him operate his wireless set.  This led me to enlist in the Navy for four years in World War I."
     In 1929, Bud Waite was chosen to put some special electrical equipment aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington and accompany her on a long cruise to the Orient.
     A few years later, in 1933, he became chief radio operator on Admiral Byrd's Antarctic Expedition.  After a long voyage, they arrived in Little America.  Soon thereafter, Admiral Byrd established another very small outpost many miles further to the south.  Here Byrd would stay alone in a small 9- by 13-foot shelter during the continuous very cold, dark days and nights of the Antarctic winter.  He would be making scientific observations and reporting his findings daily by radio to his headquarters station at Little America.
     The reports were going well for a few months, but then they noticed that Byrd was not very responsive and did not articulate well, which greatly concerned those at Little America.  It appeared that Byrd was becoming ill from the kerosene heater fumes.  A rescue party consisting of Bud Waite and two others failed on two attempts to reach him but on their third try they succeeded in time to save the Admiral's life.
     For this heroic rescue, Bud received a special congressional medal.  This is mentioned in Admiral Byrd's book titled "Alone."  This was the first of many more exploration trips that Bud would be making later.
     During World War II, Bud was an electronic engineer at the U.S. Army Signal Corps Research and Development Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where hundreds of radio amateurs and others, all scientists, engineers and technicians, developed equipment for our armed services.
     During the Allied Forces invasion of Europe, Bud Waite, W2ZK, and Victor Colaguori, W2VC, of Oakhurst, New Jersey, as civilians on special assignment went with the invasion forces across the English Channel setting up a newly developed multichannel FM radio relay system that kept General Dwight Eisenhower in direct communications with his commanders on the battlefield.
     For their achievement as civilians in combat, President Harry Truman awarded Victor Colaguori, W2VC, and Amory "Bud" Waite, W2ZK, the Bronze Star.
     After World War II, Bud was head of an Arctic and Antarctic research team that did much scientific research that greatly increased our knowledge of the polar regions.  Bud Waite had completed more than 22 exploratory research trips to the Arctic and Antarctic over the 35 years before he retired in 1965.
     Bud received many honors.  In 1960, a portion of the Antarctic continent located at 73 degrees south and 103 degrees west was officially named Cape Waite.  Before Bud died in January, 1985, a group of islands 100 miles northwest of Cape Waite have been named The Waite Islands.
     Quoting an old sea captain, Bud said, "I die serene with the memories of my adventures."

August 10, 1989

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

Page updated January 12, 2004  page created June 11, 2001