WW II CORPSMAN HAS STRONG CONNECTIONS TO GUILFORD COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY

James Campbell “J.C.” White entered Guilford College three times: in 1942 after graduating from Curry School; in 1946 following World War II; in 1950 after care-giving his parents through a seize of illnesses. 

Pragmatic beyond his 92 years, “After one year in college, I knew the draft board would be coming for me, so I went to them first.  It was Army-Navy alphabetically, so the W’s went Navy.  One year of pre-med at Guilford placed me in Navy Hospital Corps School.  One autopsy took all plans of medical school off my plate.”

He worked for the Postal Service after dropping out of college to take care of his parents.  “That was a great job, paid well and gave me time to help with my parents.”  It also gave him time and resources to invest in rural family land that was becoming less rural by the moment – it was near the intersection of Friendly Road and Dolley Madison Road.

His third enrollment at Guilford College was more typical – he graduated in 1952 with a degree in history.  He was already aligned with Greensboro history – he was delivered by Dr. Wesley Long. 

In the war zone, it took White a while to find his LST-456 duty station.  “The Navy flew replacement crewmen to their ships wherever they were posted.  Before my ship could be located, dysentery and dengue fever put me in a Brisbane, Australia sick bay.

J. C. WHITE AND FIRST COUSIN DURING WW II

That wasn’t bad duty – major league baseball stars, Phil Rizutto and Johnny Mize were there.  Rizutto’s bunk was next to mine.  When I left for New Guinea, he asked me to send him back some guineas.  Another memory – Rizutto received more letters from more women than anyone I ever knew!”

White caught up with LST-456 in the New Guinea theater, but did not follow through on his bunk-mate’s request.

WHITE'S LST-456 WAS ACTIVE IN PACIFIC THEATER 

As the junior corpsmen aboard ship, he spent much of his time giving shots.  “I know some of those shots were quite painful.  I don’t think I could do that now, at my age.”

With editorial license, I find that strange – As a sea-going Marine 60 years ago, corpsmen uniformly assured me, “This shot won’t hurt a bit!”

White recalls one sailor who wanted to choose his own doctor, “We were off the coast of Borneo.  I was the only corpsman on the ship when two crew-members got in a fight.  One suffered a split scalp but didn’t trust me to fix it.  ‘That’s fine with me, I told him -- go ahead and bleed to death – it’s your call.’ 

He changed his mind and I sutured him up, but he complained afterwards that my stitching left his bald head looking just like the lacing on a baseball.  I told him to grow lots of hair and no one would notice.”

White added, “We had a doctor aboard for a short while – he was a pediatrician – I never could figure that out!”

LST-456 earned eight combat campaign stars during the war, several of them after White came aboard.  He became a golden shellback when his troop carrier crossed both the Equator and International Date Line.

LST-456 EXTRACT SURRENDERED JAPANESE FROM LUZON 

He has indelible memories from the Philippines, “We beached our ship on Luzon to take on Japanese troops as prisoners of war.  A Japanese major went ashore with a bullhorn to coax them out of the jungle and to surrender their arms.”

He well remembers the day the war ended, “We were below deck watching Gone With the Wind for the umpteenth time.  Anti-aircraft guns started firing from all over the place, and the announcement came over the PA system, ‘The war is over.’ “

Memories were also made after sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge, “ Welcome Home, Boys had been painted on the Alcatraz water tank.”

Even then, he wasn’t home free, “Several of us weren’t paying attention and got on the wrong train in Chicago.  The conductor was going to kick us off, but three women passengers talked him out of it.  We got to Atlanta, where we caught another train to Greensboro.”

White traces his Quaker heritage back to Cane Creek’s Simon Dixon.  Late in life, he married Winifred Lincoln, an Englishwoman and daughter of a British engineer working in the U.S.  She had a son and daughter.  Winifred White died in 2014.

The son has also passed away, but his step-daughter, Joan, is around to dote on White, “She is the daughter I never had.” 

J. C. WHITE AND BOB BENBOW -- WW II LST SAILORS IN DIFFERENT THEATERS
BUT TOGETHER AT FRIENDS HOME -- GUILFORD

White spent most of his working career with Dillard Paper Company, “I couldn’t have chosen a better place to work.”  His venture into real estate is a stand-alone story.  Parcels of his land were once owned by a Payne family.  They had a daughter named Dolley.

   

   

  

BENBOW'S NAVY SERVICE A TESTIMONY FOR PEACE

On January 1, 1942, John R. “Bob” Benbow attended the first Rose Bowl game played away from Pasadena, California.  (Duke Stadium, Durham, NC – Oregon State 20, Duke 16). 

On January, 19, 1943, Benbow joined the U.S. Navy.  After boot camp, he went aboard the Navy’s first tank landing ship, LST-1. 

Of 1000 LSTs manufactured during the war years, Benbow’s was the first to float.  “We left New York on April 14, 1943 with a full load of tanks, trucks, jeeps and lots of supplies.  We even carried a 131-foot landing craft tank on our main deck.  Pontoons were attached to each side of the LST for unloading tanks and heavy equipment.

Bermuda was our first port of call – it was the first and last friendly call for the next two years.”

BOB BENBOW IS OAK RIDGE, NC NATIVE AND
GRADUATE OF OAK RIDGE MILITARY ACADEMY

Arzew and Bizerte, along the African Coast, were less friendly, “We got our introduction to the real war there – air raids, bombs, and firing our anti-aircraft guns at enemy planes.”

Sicily was even less hospitable, “We were bombed almost every day and sometimes at night – just enough to keep us up and wear us out.”

LST-1 made several supply shuttles back and forth to Africa.  “On one trip, we took on 400 German and Italian prisoners of war and transported them to Africa. 

On another trip, I met the Army doctor who had come aboard for the Invasion of Sicily.  He was a major and I was enlisted, but we developed a special bond – his name was Dr. Maurice LeBauer, from Greensboro, North Carolina.

TROOPS OFFLOADING AT SALERNO, ITALY

The September, 1943 Invasion of Salerno, Italy came next for us.  We got there a few days after D-Day, but were still within firing range of the Germans.  We stayed at general quarters almost all the time.”

LST-1 went into the supply shuttle mode again, making several voyages across the Mediterranean to Northern Africa.  “We knew another invasion was being planned, but the ship was on lock-down secrecy.  After sailing, we were told – Anzio.”

There was hardly anything about Anzio that Benbow approved, “It was poorly planned and the execution was worse than the planning.  Allied lives were lost unnecessarily!”

The fact that U.S. ships were raided by Luftwaffe bombers and received heavy barrages of fire from inland gun placements -- including Germany’s infamous railroad gun -- surely clouded Benbow’s perspective.  Many companion LSTs were hit and some sank at Anzio.

COMBAT LOADING AT SALERNO FOR ANZIO INVASION

After Anzio, LST-1 returned to dry dock in Sicily, featuring rest & recuperation for the crew.  The welcome this time was friendlier than on their prior visit.

Benbow lost his Oak Ridge Military Academy class-ring in Sicily.  “That broke my heart and I looked all over for it.  After the war, I went back to Oak Ridge for one semester.  A guy from New York sent the ring to the president of the school.  He had traded a carton of cigarettes for my ring in Salerno.  Fortunately, he was a good guy -- my name and the school name was engraved inside the ring.” 

By early May, 1944 Benbow was in Swansea, Wales, enjoying what turned out to be a lull before the storm.  “This was our first English-speaking port in over a year, but even with my Welsh heritage I had a hard time with their brogue.”

LST-1 had been combat-loaded for four days when she slipped from an English port on June 5, 1944.  “I was up early the next morning – you could see ships in four directions and airplanes in four directions – that’s the only way I can describe it.

We anchored off Omaha Beach D-Day afternoon and sent a landing craft ashore with a load of Navy beach-masters.  They would supervise off-loading from the ships.”

Benbow’s second visit to Omaha Beach was on June 12, 1944.  It was a mind-changer.  “My walk on the beach that day is burned in my memory.  Those memories will haunt me forever.  Ships were sunk or partially submerged, tanks and vehicles over-turned and burned, dead soldiers were lying in the sand – body parts were still being collected.”

For decades, 93-year old Benbow did not talk or write about his WW II memories.  Eventually, he started writing – then talking -- he feels people need to know about the awfulness of war, and that war is not always the answer.

WORLD WAR II VETERAN OF FIVE CAMPAIGNS VOLUNTEERED TO SERVE
BUT PRAYS THAT WARS CAN BE AVOIDED IN THE FUTURE

The North Carolina State University graduate worked with Nationwide Insurance for 31 years.  He has been retired 33 years.  He married Reba Lowdermilk in 1949 – they have three children and three grand-children.  

In October, 2016 Benbow was among the 1942 Rose Bowl attendees invited back to commemorate the occasion – only one of the football players was still alive.