Walter D White - The County and the Kaiser

Private, Co B, 309th Infantry, 78th Division.

Died November 9, 1918, of wounds received in action near St. Juvin, France. Distinguished Service Cross. Age 27.

Town: Byron

Burial: Byron Cemetery , Byron Center, Genesee County, New York

Walter Dewey White was born on August 26, 1891 in Byron (Genesee County), New York, and lived there nearly all his life. He was the son of Iverson W White and Carrie nee Green White. The 1900 and 1910 US censuses show Walter, his parents, and his three siblings (sister Ada, brothers Tracy and Charles) in Byron. Walter’s father died on May 7, 1910, about a week after the census was taken. White attended the Mechanics Institute in Rochester and later was a mechanical engineering student at Purdue University in Indiana. An April 1, 1913 Batavia Daily News article refers to him as a sophomore at Purdue. In the 1915 NY Census, Walter is shown at age 23 living back in Byron on White Road with his mother and brother Tracy; his occupation is listed as farmer. Genesee County’s 1917 “Militia Enrollment List” and his June 1917 draft registration card give his occupation as carpenter. The December 3, 1918 Batavia Daily News article reporting his death said he also worked as a “trouble man” for the Byron Telephone Company, and that “his pleasant ways and good work made friends of all with whom he came in contact.” The article, datelined South Byron, continued, “The town has had few young men more universally liked and respected than Walter Dewey White.”

As one of 42 members of Genesee County’s fifth contingent of draftees, White was inducted into the Army at Batavia on April 3, 1918, and left the next day for Camp Dix, New Jersey, home of the 78th Division. He was assigned to Company B of the division’s 309th Infantry, and on May 20 left the United States with his unit for overseas duty.

Private White was one of five Genesee County members of Company B, 309th Infantry, who died as a result of the fighting at the Bois des Loges, northeast of Grandpré, from mid-October through the first day of November. White received his mortal wound on that day, November 1, when the 309th Infantry, along with the 310th, attacked the stubbornly defended square mile of underbrush and ravines bristling with enemy machine-gun nests. The 309th took heavy casualties, just as it had on previous assaults over the two weeks prior. This time, however, they were successful. German forces withdrew that evening.

For more than a year afterward, there were conflicting reports regarding whether White had been killed on November 1 or had died later of wounds sustained that day. The December 3, 1918 Batavia Daily News reported that White’s mother had received an official telegram announcing her son’s death on November 9 from wounds received in action. Other sources, including his casualty listing in History of the Seventy-Eighth Division and his Distinguished Service Cross citation, stated that he was killed in action on November 1.

Documents in Private White’s OMPF show that the confusion was caused by two casualty reports received by the Army’s Adjutant General’s office, one from division headquarters for a Walter D White ID No. 1750790 of Company B 309th Infantry, killed in action on November 1, and another for a Willard White ID No. 1750790 of Company B 309th Infantry, died of wounds in Evacuation Hospital No. 11 on November 9. An investigation revealed that both reports were for Walter Dewey White, and that the latter was correct: White had died November 9 of wounds received in the fighting on November 1. In reply to an Army telegram asking for clarification regarding the soldier’s identity, Evacuation Hospital No. 11 replied, “Reference your telegram . . . Walter D White 1750790 Pvt Co B three naught nine Infantry received this hospital November second cause admission GSW [gunshot wound] right side of head received in action. Died November nine this hospital. Buried US Cemetery Brizeau Forestiere grave number two four naught.”

Perhaps because conflicting dates persisted in records, a memorandum from the Adjutant General’s Office dated April 12, 1920 and headed by White’s name, unit, and ID number was issued: “It has this day been determined by this Department from the records that the above named soldier died November 9, 1918, from wounds received in action, and that so much of the records as show any other date is erroneous.”

Regardless, there was never any question of Private Walter Dewey White’s valor on November 1, 1918. His Distinguished Service Cross citation reads: “For extraordinary heroism in action near the Bois des Loges, France, November 1, 1918. While acting as runner, Pvt. White volunteered to carry a message across a long stretch of open country which was subjected to heavy machine-gun and artillery fire. He successfully crossed the space and delivered his message, but in an attempt to return he was killed by a rain of machine-gun bullets. His conduct served as an inspiration to other runners.”

Further details of Private White’s death appeared in a letter to White’s mother from Lieutenant Joseph L Wills, published in the February 4, 1919 Batavia Daily News. Wills wrote, “Being in command of Company B at the time your son Walter D. White, was killed in action, I know him better than any other officer and I can truly say that he was one of the bravest men that I’ve ever seen. He was runner at the time of his death, which is the most dangerous job on the line, and was killed while carrying a message. . . . The comrades of Walter agreed he was hit in the head by a machine gun or sniper’s bullet, in the Bois des Loges woods, which place is about a mile from the town of St. Juvin. He died shortly after, being picked up by the stretcher bearers.”

Private Walter Dewey White’s remains were returned to Byron under military escort on August 14, 1921, and were interred with honors at Bergen Cemetery on August 16. Today, Bergen’s American Legion Post #575 bears White’s name and that of two other fallen Byron-Bergen WWI soldiers, Lester Merrill and Dewey Sackett.

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—— [CLICK ON DOCUMENTS TO OPEN FULL VIEW IN SEPARATE TAB] ——

December 3, 1918 Batavia Daily News p1 c6

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February 4, 1919 Batavia Daily News p7 c4

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May 17, 1919 Batavia Times p1 c4

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August 20, 1921 Batavia Times p2 c4

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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York