White left Germantown High School in September 1966 to enlist in the Army. He trained to be a medical corpsman and in November 1967 was sent to Vietnam eight weeks after his mother died. He was assigned to Head-quarters and Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. White died on April 15, 1968, at the age of 18. He had been very close to his brother, who was in the Air Force at the time of his death and had served in Vietnam. Besides his brother, he was survived by his parents, a brother and sister