US Army 1Lt. William Leopold White was born in Pensacola, Florida on August 22, 1928, the son of Russell Preston White (1903-1963) and Lottie "Pete" Watson (1905-1978). He was also the grandson of William "Willie" Leopold White and Jeanette Farinas. His father was a native Pensacolian who supported his family as the assistant executive director of the Housing Authority. He would later retire as the director of same and settled down in their home at 1705 East Avery Street.
By 1945, WWII was fast coming to an end when their oldest son Russell P. Jr. decided to enlist in the Army two months before Japan surrendered. His father was still with the housing authority at the time with his younger sons William, Richard, John, and Gene still in school. However, right after graduating from Pensacola High School in 1946, William followed his brother into the Army. After basic training, he was sent to OCS and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in November 1948. After artillery school he was sent to Korea in September 1950 and assigned to the 49th Field Artillery Battalion attached to the 7th Infantry Division. This was an unlucky break because it meant that he most likely took part in the Inchon landing on September 15th and the northward push to the Chosin Reservoir and the Yalu River on the 21st of November. After the great battle at Chosin, William and his battalion were forced to retreat to the port of Hungnam for extrication.
Back on the front lines by early 1951, the battalion fought a series of successful attacks and counterattacks in the early weeks of February 1951. But William wrote home to his parents that he loved the fact that they wrapped their packages to him in the hometown newspaper because he read every little scrap of news from it.
But it was here in the small vicious fighting that Lt. White was killed in action on February 12, 1951. Ironically, an article appeared in the News Journal back home the day before his death concerning those wrapped packages. However, the telegram from the War Department about his fate had not yet been sent to his parents by that time. His remains were finally sent home to Pensacola in September 1951 and buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery where he was joined by his family in due time.
Comments