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Private Jack Windfield White [May 30, 1924 – January 7, 1945] was born to Hiram Isaac (HI) White [January 3, 1882 – February 20, 1979] and Georgia Ann (McDaniel) White [May 20, 1886 – April 24, 1946] at Citrus Grove, Matagorda County, Texas.  The family moved to Bay City in 1925 where his father continued to farm.  In 1934 his father and older brother Glen Ivan established a lumber-hardware business, known as Bay City Material.  His mother Ann ran the company office.  Jack attended school in Bay City and joined the Army during his senior year. He was first assigned to the Military Police and then volunteered to join the paratroopers.  He was then assigned to 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Parachute Division “Thunder from Heaven.” Mortally wounded on January 7, 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge, he died later that day. His unit entered the Ardennes campaign 4 to 9 January 1945 at the Battle of Dead Man’s Ridge. His remains were first buried at the temporary war cemetery located at Grand Failly, France near Longuyon.  In 1948, after his parents declined repatriation to the United States, his remains were moved and were re-interred in the Luxembourg American Cemetery, Plot D, Row 2, Grave 6 at Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, the same cemetery at which General George S. Patton, Jr. is buried.  Survivors included his parents HI and Ann, brother Glen, and sisters Evaline, Nola and Nora.  He was also survived by his step-paternal grandmother Sadie White and many other relatives and friends. Jack was baptized into the First Presbyterian Church on February 7, 1937.  He never married.
 

PVT. JACK W. WHITE DIES FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED IN BATTLE

Pvt. Jack W. White died from wounds received January 7, in battle in Belgium, according to word received Thursday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. I. White of this city.

The War Department telegram carried this brief, tragic message with no further details. The Department stated that additional information will follow by letter.

Mr. and Mrs. White’s last letter from their son was written on Christmas day. February 1 they were informed by the War Department that he had been injured.

Pvt. White was with the 17th Airborne Division, Third Army in France.

Born in Citrus Grove, Tex., near Collegeport, he was 20 years of age. He enlisted October 17, 1942, during his senior year in Bay City high school. He served a time with the military police and was transferred to the paratroopers.

Another son of the family is in the service, Glenn I. White, now up for officers’ training with the Merchant Marines.                                                           

The Daily Tribune, February 9, 1945
 

MEMORIAL IS HELD FOR PVT. WHITE, BELGIUM CASUALTY

Memorial services were held for Pvt. Jack W. White, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. I. White at the First Presbyterian church, Sunday, Feb. 18.

Rev. Ernest F. Deutsch, pastor of the church to which the young man has belonged since 1934, led the service from the beautiful Twenty-Third Psalm and Ninety-first Psalm and spoke on the theme from the second chapter of Galatians, “He loved me and gave himself for me.”

Pvt. White was born at Citrus Grove, Tex., May 30, 1924. For the past eleven years he had been an active member of the church where his death on Jan. 7, 1945, from wounds received in action in Belgium on that day was memorialized.

He enlisted in the Air Corps Oct. 17, 1942, and volunteered into the paratroopers of the 17th Airborne Division June, 1943. He embarked for foreign service in August, 1944, and met his death in the Belgium campaign some 17 months later.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. I White; a brother, Glen; three sisters, Evaline, Nola and Nora; his grandmother, Mrs. C. W. White; two nieces, Laura Ann Jeter and Nola Esther Wearden; one nephew, Glen Edward, and many other relatives.

Mr. and Mrs. White and the family wish to thank all friends for the many expressions of sympathy extended them in their sad hour. 

Matagorda County Tribune, March 1, 1945

Photo courtesy of Betty Crosby

Wreaths Across America 2019

Photo courtesy of Kenneth L. Thames
 

IN MEMORIAM

Captain Philip H. Parker

Pvt. Jack W. White

Sgt. Robert W. Walker

Joseph Paul Lamb MOMM 1/c

On this Memorial Day we want to pay tribute to our beloved dead, our sons, who sleep in peace under the quiet sod or beneath the murmuring waves.

They are not dead; having died for freedom of mankind and with the love of God in their hearts, have found a new life. They are soldiers risen to the highest level, and they can become a living part of you and me--today, tomorrow, and forever.

In the destinies of men and in the glorious history of our nation their souls go marching on.

Because of them our lives will ever be free.

Because of them our great country will forever live, the exemplification of justice to all people under a real democracy.

Let us parents seek surcease of grief in this promise:

"Behind the dim unknown,
Standest God within the shadow,
Keeping watch over his own."

The Daily Tribune, Thursday, May 30, 1946

County 'Builder' Dies At 97

H. I. White Leaves Legacy

Hiram Isaac White, a builder of Matagorda County since 1913, died Tuesday leaving behind a legacy to the people of Bay City.

"H. I." as he was widely known was born January 3, 1882 in Pawnee, Nebraska. He later moved to Norton County, Kansas, where he married Georgia Ann McDaniel April 10, 1907. Their marriage was blessed with six children, four of whom survive their mother and father. "Ann" White passed away in their Bay City home April 24, 1946.

Mr. White married Susie Hoffman, who survives him, on May 4, 1947.

His children who are still living are: Evaline "Eve" (Mrs. Moody W.) Bartlett and Mora (Mrs. Lawrence E.) Wearden of Glen Flora; Glen I. White, Bay City, and Nola (Mrs. John W.) Willmarth of Springfield, Ill.

Grandchildren include Lannie Bartlett (Mrs. Robert D.) Williams of Wharton; Becky White (Mrs. Chris) Floyd of Deer Park; Glen Edward Wearden of Caldwell, Texas; Tommy and Patrick Wearden, of Glen Flora, and Nola Wearden (Mrs. Jim) Russell, of Midland, Texas. Also 13 great grandchildren and a number of adoring nephews and nieces.

Two children preceded their father in death: "Baby" Jewell who passed at birth and Pvt. Jack White, a young paratrooper killed in the tragic Belgium Bulge of World War II.

White came to Matagorda County in 1913 from Norton, Kansas. He first settled in the Blessing area, then on to the Collegeport-Citrus Grove Community, before moving to Bay City in 1924. "That's over 50 years and surely makes me an 'old timer; in Bay City" he said.

"It seems a fitting symbol that H. I. White was in the building supply business" a friend had said, "for his history was that of a true builder in every aspect of his life. No job had ever been too difficult--if it needed doing he always found a way--and he did it well.

The story is told of White's building the football field for the Bay City High School, now Cherry Elementary. After it was considered completed, he went carefully over the field on hands and knees to make certain there was not one stone that might injure a young player when he fell. He was a fan then and his interest in sports never diminished.

White was a Charter and Life Member of the Wesley Men's Bible Class. He was an ardent supporter of the Masonic Lodge in which he held many offices including Worshipful Master. His fellow Shriners saluted him on several occasions for his support of the Shrine Crippled Children's program.

As a long-time member of Rotary Club he supported all programs and projects in every way, and in his far-flung travels he visited and lunched with many fellow Rotarians across the U. S.

As a founder of Bay City Material Company, with his son Glen, H. I. White expressed his talent for and knowledge of sturdy building.

Building was his way of life in every area he touched, whether civic, lodge, club, or among family and the host of surviving friends.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Taylor Brothers Funeral Home at 3 p.m. Thursday, in the First Presbyterian Church. Rev. Frank Seaman will conduct the services, with burial to follow in Cedarvale Cemetery of Bay City.

The Daily Tribune, February 21, 1979
 

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