Arthur Paul White
Machinist Mate 2nd Class, USS SIMPSON (DD-221)
Arthur was born the 3rd of November 1920 in Boston, Massachusetts, the oldest of four children born to Arthur and Helen White. He was raised in Foxboro, Massachusetts and a graduate of Foxboro High School Class of 1937. While working for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, he enlisted into the Navy the 20th of February 1942.
He received his basic training at Naval Station Newport Rhode Island and attended Wentworth Institute of Technology for training on diesel engines. Upon his graduation from Wentworth diesel school, he was promoted to Machinist Mate 2nd Class the 6th of September 1942. He was assigned to the USS SIMPSON (DD-221) the 12th of October 1942. Arthur and his new shipmates escorted a convoy to Casablanca in February of 1943 before spending a number of months escorting convoys between the West Indies and Northern Ireland. Again the SIMPSON escorted a convoy based around the carrier USS SANTEE (CVE-29) to Casablanca in August of 1943. The ship spent the next few months on tedious anti-submarine patrols near the Azores. From late 1943 into early 1944 the SIMPSON performed escort duty for troop transports along the East Coast of the United States.
On the 15th of February 1944, Arthur was transferred to the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia for further training in his rating. On the 15th of May 1944 while attempting to board a train in Bronx, New York for a period of leave, Arthur slipped and fell under the moving train resulting in his death. He is buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Marlborough, Massachusetts.d to Company B of the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. The 1st Infantry Division saw combat in North Africa landing at Oran, Algeria the 8th of November 1942.
