THE WALL OF FACES

Say not in grief he is no more, but live in thankfulness that he was.

Dear Sgt Garson White, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. I researched you on your 75th birthday, happy birthday. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Christmas is in days, Merry Christmas. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Garson Franklin White affectionately known to those who knew and served with him as “Whitey” was my friend from the time we first met in Jan.1968 at Scout Dog school in Ft. Benning Ga. People gravitated to him because of his fun loving personality. Whitey, myself & another Marine, Jim McMains were always together. Four months of Scout Dog school and 2 1/2 weeks stuck in Okinawa. If you found one the others were close by. I was not present at his death but took it hard learning afterwards coming back to DaNang. Fifty odd years later I still miss him

On February 13, 1969, a U.S. Marine convoy was enroute to Vandegrift Combat Base on Highway QL-9 during a resupply mission when a command-detonated mine destroyed one of the vehicles and halted the convoy near the Cam Lo resettlement Village in Quang Tri Province, RVN. Almost immediately the Marines came under a heavy volume of hostile mortar fire followed by intense small arms fire from a well-concealed North Vietnamese Army force. The security element accompanying the convoy quickly moved to fighting positions and engaged the enemy. During the action, an enemy grenade was tossed into a gulley occupied by three Marines. One of the Marines, LCPL Thomas E. Creek, in an attempt to shield his companions, rolled onto the grenade and absorbed the force of the blast. Creek was fatally injured. Two other Marines, LCPL Daniel L. Henry and SGT Garson F. White, were also killed during the engagement. Three others were wounded requiring medical evacuation. After the battle, the area was searched by a reaction force, but no evidence of enemy casualties could be found. Creek was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, “Command Chronology for 1 to 29 February 1968 - 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines” at ttu.edu, and LCPL Creek’s Medal of Honor citation]

Sergeant White was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor for his exemplary courage under fire while serving with the 1st Scout Dog Platoon, H & S Co, 1st MP Bn.