Robert J. Marositz was born in 1939 to Rose Mary Baker and Stephen A. Marositz. He lived in Clifton, N.J., and entered Saint Peter’s College in 1957. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics on June 4, 1961. He subsequently joined the United States Army.    

At 6:22 p.m. on November 8, 1961 at Newark Airport, Marositz and 26 other recruits boarded an Imperial Airlines aircraft, Flight 201/8, charted by the Army to carry them to basic training at Fort Jackson near Columbia, S.C. The plane made a stop at Wilkes-Barre Airport in Pennsylvania to board 31 additional recruits and then landed in Baltimore for 17 additional men. While flying over Washington, D.C., the plane experienced engine trouble, requiring the pilot to request an emergency landing at Byrd Field Southeast of Richmond, Virginia. While attempting to land, the plane lost radio contact at 9:26 p.m., crashed and burned. Only the pilot and one crew member survived. This was the worst plane crash in Virginia history. Henceforth, all Army recruits were transported by train to basic training. If one "Googles" this flight, it explains that this tragic incident did much to increase safety on charted flights

Thus, Pvt. Marositz lost his life for his country just hours after his induction into the United States Army on November 8, 1961.