Sherman W. White, Jr. (1919 - 1943) - Montgomery, AL
Posted by: 
hoteltwo
N 32° 21.972 W 086° 19.173
16S E 564016 N 3581230
Describes the White family and their children's military history including a Tuskegee Airman killed in action during WW II.
Waymark Code: WMJVJE
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 01/03/2014
Views: 5
Marker text:
First Lieutenant, 99th Fighter Squadron
Side 1:
Sherman, Sr. and Nettie White lived at this address on W. Jeff Davis Ave. Both teachers, they taught their children Sherman Jr., Willa, James, and Samson to love their country and value education. Willa, James, and Samson would graduate from college. Sherman, Jr. left school at the U. of Chicago to enlist as an Army Air Forces aviation cadet at Tuskegee, Alabama. At Tuskegee were trained the first African-American military aviators in the history of the U.S. Armed Forces. In the third class at Tuskegee, White graduated in May 1942 as a 2d. lieutenant, allowing him to make the payments on his parents' house.
Side 2:
White joined the 99th Fighter Squadron at Tuskegee, the U.S. Armed Forces' first all-black tactical air unit. Willa (WAC) and James White (QM Corps) served in the Army in WW II. Samson later was in the Army in the Korean War. Lt. Sherman White and the 99th moved to North Africa for combat. On July 2, 1943, escorting bombers over the Mediterranean, 99th P-40 fighters intercepted attacking German fighters. While protecting the bombers, the 99th had two of its P-40s shot down into the sea. White was one of the U.S. Armed Forces' first two black aviators killed in action.
Marker Name: Sherman W. White, Jr. (1919 - 1943) - First Lieutenant, 99th Fighter Squadron
Marker Type: Urban
Addtional Information::
Erected by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Historical Preservation and Promotion Foundation & the Alabama Historical Association
Date Dedicated / Placed: 2004
Marker Number: Not Listed
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