Charles Edward “Blackie” White was born on December 11, 1915, in North Bennington, Bennington County, Vermont. He was the son of Wells Woodward White and Lena Percey White. He was married to Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Durnford Schaeffler. He graduated from North Bennington High School in 1933 and enrolled at Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, in a pre-medical program. However, he left after receiving a Congressional appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from Senator Ernest W. Gibson of Vermont, joining the Class of 1939 in July 1935.

After graduation, he transferred from the Infantry to the Coast Artillery Corps and was assigned to Fort Winfield Scott in San Francisco in September 1939. In 1940, while serving at Fort Scott, he received orders to the Philippine Department, joining the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bay at Fort Mills, Corregidor. Upon arrival, Blackie was assigned to the 92nd Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts), where he served in various capacities, including as Adjutant of the regiment.

When Corregidor fell in May 1942, Blackie was captured and imprisoned at the Davao Penal Colony. He managed to send several short cards to his wife during his captivity. In September 1944, he was among approximately 750 American prisoners aboard the Japanese transport Shinyo Maru when it was torpedoed by the U.S. submarine Paddle near Mindanao. Only 82 men survived; Captain White was not among them. His remains were not recovered.

Cpt White's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Grandview Cemetery and United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, Orange County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org