2nd Lieutenant Luella White
United States Army Nurse Corps
Born: June 20, 1921 Died: April 29, 1945
Killed in Action
World War II
Luella White was unique.
Since World War I through to the present day Spalding County has lost one hundred fifty four of its native sons killed while defending this country during times of war.
Luella White however was one of a kind – in a sad way. In the 98 years since America entered WWI, she is the only woman from this community enlisted in the armed forces killed during time of war while serving overseas.
Miss White was a native of Griffin born on June 20, 1921 to Arthur A. White and Ella Lee W. White. Her family lived at 432 North 14th Street near the intersection of West Solomon and North 14th Streets in Griffin.
A graduate of Griffin High School she worked for a time after graduation in a textile mill here while saving money to attend nursing school in Atlanta. Slender and attractive she was nevertheless a shy young lady and kept her intentions a secret until she was accepted at Grady Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta. Once she knew she was in however she was proud of her plans and shared them with her friends.
Money was very tight but using what she had saved and a loan from an aunt she enrolled at Grady as a boarding student. On graduating in 1943 she worked as a nurse supervisor at Grady Memorial Hospital until she enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp in April 1944.
Commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant Luella was shipped to the South Pacific Theater of war and served there until her death on April 29, 1945, at age 23, while stationed on Saipan. Of her thirteen months of service in the Army she was stationed overseas eleven of those months.
Lt. White was the first and possibly the only Grady Hospital School of Nursing graduate to make the supreme sacrifice for this country in WWII.
At the time of her death Ms. White was engaged to Pfc. Wiley Gwin King, Jr. who also died while serving on Saipan.
She was survived by, in addition to her mother, three brothers, Henry White then serving overseas in the U.S. Navy, Roy and Mike White both of Griffin and one sister, Martha White of Griffin.
Second Lt. Luella White is buried in the McWilliams – White family plot in Oak Hill Cemetery in Griffin.
Ms. Mary Sledge was the sole known survivor who knew Luella White in life when Ms. Sledge passed away at 92 in Griffin in 2015. Shortly before her death she said about her: “Anything nice you could think of to say about a person you could say about Louella.”
Possibly she was unique in that way too.
