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Born in Baltimore, Maryland he graduated from The Boys' Latin School at Baltimore in 1925 and attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for two years before securing an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in June 1931 with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the Cavalry.
From 1931 until 1941 he served in various Cavalry units. After the US entered World War II, he participated in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, in November 1942.
At the Battle of Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia in February 1943, he was captured by German forces and spent the next two years at prisoner-of war camps in Silesia, Czechoslovakia and Hammelburg, Germany.
In March 1945 the US 3rd Army, under Task Force Baum, reached the camp and liberated it. During the assault, he was badly wounded in the leg and received initial treatment from an imprisoned Serbian doctor prior to being rescued. After spending a year in recovering from his wounds, he returned to duty in 1946 and became the Commandant of Cadets at West Point.
In 1952 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and was sent to Korea where he served as Chief of Staff for the US Army 1st Corps. He then became Commanding General for the 4th Armored Division and 5th US Army Corps in Germany and Commanding General, 5th US Army, in Chicago, Illinois.
From 1955 until 1957 he was Chief of the American Military Assistance Staff in Yugoslavia and then returned to the US to become Deputy Chief of Staff for Material Developments at Fort Monroe, Virginia and received promotions to major and lieutenant general during this time.
In February 1963 he was promoted to the rank of general and assigned as Commanding General, US Continental Army Command. In 1964 he became Commander, US Pacific Command at Fort Shafter, Hawaii and retired in that position in August 1966 with 35 years of continuous military service.
Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star (with two oak leaf clusters), the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart (with one oak leaf cluster), the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal (with star), the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with three campaign stars), the Korea Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal (Korea), the Knight Commander Order of the British Empire, the French Croix de guerre (with palm), and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.
He died of heart failure in Washington DC at the age of 82.
He was the son-in-law of US Army General George S. Patton.
GEN Waters was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, a historical and hereditary lineage organization.
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