Private First Class E. C. White, US Army is buried in Plot C, Row 6, Grave 75 of the Cambridge American Cemetery, England.

E. C. was born in 1918 to Henry B. White and Ona B. White. He had two brothers and two sisters, Alvis V. White, William B. White, Almond White and Eolia White. 1935 found the family living in rural San Augustine County and the 1940 census had them back in Shelby County and it reflected a 7th grade education for E. C.

E. C. White joined the Army on February 12, 1941 some ten months before Pearl Harbor. He trained at Camp Bowie, Texas, Fort Benning, Georgia, Alliance, Nebraska and Harrisonburg, Oregon. He was assigned to the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment and 17th Airborne Division. Research leads to the conclusion that PFC White and his unit made a jump during the Normandy invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They were to be dropped near the west bank of the Merderet River with the objective of establishing a defensive position in those areas and prepare to attack westward sealing off the Cotentin Peninsula. The jump did not go as planned and it left troopers spread out over a 20 miles area. PFC White was wounded in action during this time and was sent to a hospital in Nottingham, England to recover. The Champion newspaper article announces his death as Independence Day, July 4, 1944 in a bus accident while recovering from his wounds.

Brothers Alvis V. White and William B. White both served in the US Army during WW II also. Both survived the war although brother William was wounded.

E C White