Name: Leonard James White Rank: Private Service Number: F/57443 Service: South Saskatchewan Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: January 4, 1922 Place of Birth: Gilbert’s Cove, Digby County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: August 23, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Gilbert’s Cove, Digby County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 21 Occupation: Truck driver Marital Status: Married Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Katherine White (Wife) Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Hair Colour: Dark brown Eye Colour: Brown Date of Death: October 3, 1944 Age: 23 Cemetery: Schoonselhof Cemetery, Wilrijk, Belgium Grave: I. D. 10. Commemorated on Page 476 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 11 Leonard James White was the son of James Herbert White (1886-1964) and Sadie (Melanson) White (1893- 1976) of Sissiboo Falls, Digby Co., NS, and the brother of Joseph John Vincent White (1911-1992), Theresa Dorothy White (1914-1915), Mary Viola White (1917-1992), Mary Anne (Marion Muriel) White (b. 1918), James Aloysius (Chester) White (1919-1996), Charles Leander White (1924-2000), and Denis Hubert White (b. 1929). The White family is of Acadian descent; until Leonard’s father’s generation, the family surname was LeBlanc. Leonard’s paternal grandfather was Remi Mandé Leblanc (1828-1910), with previous generations also using the name LeBlanc. Leonard was the husband of Arthenise Catherine (Melanson) White (1913-1995), of Ashmore, Digby Co. They were married by Father Luc Gaudet in Weymouth on November 29, 1939. Leonard and Katherine had one son Chester James White (1940-2017). Leonard worked as a truck driver for George O. Hankinson of Weymouth, NS before enlisting in August of 1943. Leo completed his basic training at No. 60 Canadian Infantry Basic Training Centre (CIBTC), also known as Camp 60, in Yarmouth Nova Scotia from September 3 to December 6, 1944, and his advanced training at No. 14 Canadian Infantry Training Centre at Aldershot in Kings Co., NS beginning December 7th. He was given leave from December 23 to 27, 1943. He was sick in quarters from February 21 to March 13, 1944. Next, he undertook specialized training to become an army driver and mechanic at the S5 Canadian Driving and Maintenance School (S-5 CD&MS) in Woodstock, Ontario from March 18 to June 23, 1944. He departed Canada on July 20, 1944, disembarking in the United Kingdom on July 27th, and subsequently transferring from England to North West Europe, landing in France on August 18, 1944. He was wounded on September 28, 1944, and died 5 days later October 3, 1944 at the 9th British General Hospital. He is interred at the Schoonselhof Cemetery in Wilrijk, a suburb of Antwerp in Belgium. Antwerp itself had just been liberated by the Allies one month earlier on September 4, 1944.

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave