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<em>Charles Edward White</em>, better known to many as Blackie, died in the sinking of the first Japanese Prisoner of War ship, <em>Shinyo Maru</em>, on 7 September 1944, off the western shore of Mindanao Island of the Philippines.</div>
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Blackie was born on 11 December 1915, to Mr. and Mrs. Wells W. White of North Bennington, Vermont. He grew up in North Bennington and attended public schools there. He graduated from high school in 1933 and was his class valedictorian. He participated in several sports in high school, namely baseball and basketball, played a cornet in the school band, and was in the drama and glee clubs.</div>
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In September 1933 he entered Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts, enrolling in the “Pre-Med” program. His medical career was abandoned, and he left Tufts when he received an appointment to West Point from Vermont’s Senator Ernest W. Gibson. He entered the Military Academy in July 1935 with the Class of 1939.</div>
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Beast summer was spent in the 5th Company in South Barracks in the company of St. Clair and Kail. Unlike his two roommates, Blackie found academics a breeze, and the plebe system only a little more difficult. Yearling year Blackie moved in with Breitling and Danny Nolan, and this arrangement continued through Second Class year. First Class year saw the arrival of two-man rooms, and Blackic shared his with Ted Breitling.</div>
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As noted before, academics were no great challenge to Blackie, and he flirted with “stars” all four years. Blackie was a Cadet Corporal, Sergeant, and Lieutenant, in Yearling, Secomd Class, and First Class years. He became Cadet Captain and Company Commander of K Company.</div>
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Blackie’s sports at the Military Academy were swimming and soccer. He excelled in the latter, and was a defense stalwart (fullback) on a team which won seven of its nine games and inaugurated an annual soccer series with Navy by winning the first game. He won his minor “A” in Second and First Class years. He also had a fine, deep voice and was a member of the Cadet Chapel Choir for four years, and the Glee Club Yearling year.</div>
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No one drag seemed to be his OAO until First Class spring when Mary Elizabeth Durnford, only daughter of Captain and Mrs. James A. Durnford, Camp Holabird, Maryland, visited West Point with her parents and was introduced to Blackie; the chemistry was right.</div>
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Blackie graduated with 456 other classmates on 11 June 1939, receiving his commission as second lieutenant in the Infantry from his Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.</div>
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During graduation leave he transferred from Infantry to the Coast Artillery Corps, and was ordered to report to Fort Winfield Scott, San Francisco, California, in September 1939. Before that event occurred, Blackie wooed and won Miss Durnford. They were married in the Cadet Chapel at West Point early in September 1939, by The Reverened H. Fairfield Butt III, Protestant Chaplain at West Point.</div>
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From this point on there are more gaps than facts in the writer’s knowledge of Blackie White’s life and death. While serving at Fort Scott in 1940 he received orders assigning him to the Philippine Department, with subsequent assignment to the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bay at Fort Mills, on the island of Corregidor. He and his wife travelled to the Philippine Islands on an Army Transport, thus enjoying a second honeymoon. On arrival in the Philippines, Blackie was assigned to the 92d Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts). Among other duties he served as Adjutant of the 92d.</div>
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As the political situation deteriorated in 1941<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the decision was made to evacuate all dependents from the Philippine Islands, Mrs White was evacuated on the United States Army Transport Washington which sailed from Manila 12 May 1941 to San Francisco via Honolulu.</div>
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Blackie was a prisoner of war at Davao Penal Colony. A newspaper report states that Mrs. White had five cards from him while he was a prisoner but none of them contained much information, Blackie was one of about 750 prisoners who were aboard the first Japanese Prisoner of War ship, <em>Shinyo Maru</em>, when it was sunk by the United States Submarine Paddle near Davao off the west coast of Mindanao on 7 September 1944. Details of the attack, from one of only 82 survivors, notes that two torpedoes tore the tramp steamer into three parts, killing many prisoners of war immediately. As survivors struggled in the water, the Japanese shot some of them in cold blood, while others, weakened by two years of prison camp simply drowned. The few that survived credit a miracle for their salvation. Blackie White was not one of the survivors.</div>
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The War Department declared Captain Charles E. White officially dead on 15 February 1945. After the war ended, Blackie was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star medal for meritorious service from December 1941 to May 1942. The citation reads, “Captain Charles E. White, from December 1941 to May 1942, performed meritorious scrvice on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. As Adjutant of the 92d Coast Artillery, and Group Three, he displayed exceptional initiative, judgment and professional ability, and with outstanding courage in the face of continual and intensive enemy fire, he steadfastly performed his responsible duties. Captain White’s leadership and devotion to duty reflect great credit on him and the military service.” Records indicate that a Silver Star and Purple Heart were also awarded to Blackie, but no citations are available,</div>
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A memorial to Charles Edward White stands in the cemetery at West Point, next to an identical one for Ted Breitling, Blackie’s roommate and best man, who met a similar fate. The inscription on Blackie’s memorial reads, “Charles Edward White, December 11, 1915-September 7, 1944. Captain, Coast Artillery Corps, U. S. Army, Class of 1939, U.S.M.A. Taken a prisoner of war on Corregidor, Philippine Islands, in 1942. Lost at sea in the sinking of the Japanese ship, ‘Shinyo Maru,’ off the Western shore of Mindanao Island.”</div>