HENRY C. WHITE, LT, USN
Henry White '49
Lucky Bag
From the 1949 Lucky Bag:
Henry C. White
Battle Creek, Michigan
Hank, the personification of urbanity and Battle Creek's gift to the feminine world, came to the Academy after sixteen months as a V-12er ("Victory in twelve years or we fight") at Ohio Wesleyan University. While there he pledged Sigma Chi fraternity and enjoyed gridiron prominence; injuries kept him out of football here but failed to dim his enthusiasm for the sport. Mention should be made in passing of his prowess with the foaming liquid, for few could contest his speed at "pouring them down," and some have found it fatal to try. He was always the life of the party and wherever you find him you were sure to find a party or at least a bull session. Hank's innate love of flying should make him a find for Naval Aviation, and his ready smile and humorous spirit will take him far.
Henry C. White
Battle Creek, Michigan
Hank, the personification of urbanity and Battle Creek's gift to the feminine world, came to the Academy after sixteen months as a V-12er ("Victory in twelve years or we fight") at Ohio Wesleyan University. While there he pledged Sigma Chi fraternity and enjoyed gridiron prominence; injuries kept him out of football here but failed to dim his enthusiasm for the sport. Mention should be made in passing of his prowess with the foaming liquid, for few could contest his speed at "pouring them down," and some have found it fatal to try. He was always the life of the party and wherever you find him you were sure to find a party or at least a bull session. Hank's innate love of flying should make him a find for Naval Aviation, and his ready smile and humorous spirit will take him far.
Loss
Henry was lost during a training flight of his A-3B Intruder on July 7, 1957. From A-3 Skywarrior:
From newspaper articles sent by AT2 Seaman's daughter, 3/1/2012: "The plane was participating in night training exercises and at the time was practicing mirror landings which the Navy explains consists of field carrier approach work."
He was a member of Heavy Attack Squadron (VAH) 9. The other three crewmen aboard were also killed.
Other Information
From Battle Creek Enquirer, July 8, 1957, via researcher Kathy Franz:
Lt. Henry C. White, 32-year-old Navy jet bomber pilot and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis C. White of 132 Minges rd., was killed Saturday night in the crash of an A3D bomber which carried three other Navy men to their deaths near the Sanford Naval Air Base, Sanford, Fla.
The veteran naval flier, who held the Air Medal for several combat missions flown during the Korean War, was piloting the ill-fated jet bomber which crashed while on a routine training mission.
Parents Were Away
His parents were in Ottawa, Canada, when they learned early Sunday of the death of their son through a telephone call from Lt. White’s wife, Juanita, who called from Sanford. Lt. and Mrs. White and their two sons, Stuart, 5, and John, 2, had just moved into a new home they had built at Sanford.
The Western Union office here was trying to reach Mr. and Mrs. White to deliver a telegram from the naval base commander telling of their son’s death when the telephone call from their daughter-in-law reached them.
Mr. and Mrs. White had gone to Ottawa for the funeral last Friday of Mrs. White’s mother, Mrs. David Stuart, who had died Wednesday. The Whites flew home Sunday and left by plane this morning for Sanford. Mr. White is plant manager for the United Steel and Wire Co.
The daughter-in-law was unable to furnish any details of the tragedy when she telephoned early Sunday. Later, yesterday, she was under sedation and unable to talk to her father-in-law. Mr. White talked to the wife of a fellow squadron member, who said that Lt. White was making simulated aircraft carrier landings on an air strip near the air base. He had touched the ship down and was climbing into the air again when the plane apparently lost air speed and nosed into the ground.
Seek Crash Cause
The Navy said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the crash. The A3D twin-jet Skywarrior … according to the Associated Press, was coming in for a landing when it fell about a mile south of the base and burst into flames. It dug a deep hole and knocked down a number of trees.
Also killed were Cmdr. Charles Carman, 36, Fireco, Va., the co-pilot, and Observer A/1 Joseph Monaco, Gary, Ind.
Lt. White, who was better known as Harry rather than Henry during his elementary and high school days here, was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and had made the Navy his career. He had won his Navy wings in November of 1950, 15 months after graduating from Annapolis.
Born in Battle Creek March 13, 1925, he attended the Franklin school and Central High School where he won his letter in football and from where he graduated in 1943.
He immediately volunteered for the Navy’s V-12 program and was sent to Ohio Wesleyan after a brief assignment at Western Michigan College. At Ohio Wesleyan he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and played football until his grid days ended when he dislocated his shoulder.
Transferred to Notre Dame to complete his V-12 training he was only a month away from his ensign’s commission when he was notified that the No. 1 Annapolis appointee and the first alternate had failed to qualify for the academy and that as second alternate, he was eligible for the academy. He dropped out of the V-12 program for the opportunity of obtaining a four year collegiate course leading to a permanent naval rank, and enrolled at Annapolis July 1, 1945.
Four years later, commissioned an ensign, he began his final stage of flight training at Pensacola, Fla. It was while at Pensacola that he met Miss Juanita Pine. They married Nov. 11, 1951. Two years later he was flying combat missions from the attack aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain in Korean waters. In October of 1953, Lt. White and 21 of his squadron mates were presented with the Navy Air Medal.
Services in Florida
Funeral services and burial will be in Florida. Final arrangements have not been completed. Lt. White’s sister, Mrs. Gordon (Martha) Salisbury of Milwaukee, Wis., and her husband arrived here last night for the trip to Florida.
Also surviving is a maternal grandfather, David Stuart, of Ottawa.
He is buried in the Barrancas National Cemetery.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
