 Treasured
Photo
General "Ike" inscribed this to S/Sgt S. C. Jacobs.
He was Samuel C. Jacobs of Company H.
[courtesy of Erik van der Hoeven who says he received
it from either Jim Blue or George Lamm] |
Everyone has seen that photo of General Eisenhower talking to a group of
paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division at an airfield in England just
prior to the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, but not many people have
seen a photo of Five-Star General Dwight David Eisenhower discussing events
of the day with a lonely, lowly Private First Class from the 508th Parachute
Infantry Regiment at the I.G. Farben Building in 1945.
Well, you're looking at one now!
That lonely, lowly Private First Class is Loren J. White who was
appointed as a special guard for General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower at
his Headquarters on the second floor of the I.G. Farben Building. PFC White's
post was a small glassed-in office just outside the General's office. He was
assigned to the Machine Gun Platoon of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion
and had competed with other 508th paratroopers for that special sentry post.
He had recently reenlisted and that photo was to be made into a recruiting
poster but it never happened. Loren returned stateside with the 508th in
November 1946. He was the 1st Sergeant
of E Company, 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
when he received a direct commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry in
1951.
In 1958 he was integrated into the Regular Army and transferred from
the Infantry to the Quartermaster Corps. He retired as a
Colonel September 30,1984 after more than 40 years of active service with
the Army—that's right, 40 years, 2 months, and 11 days, to be exact! The
accompanying photo of Colonel White was taken several years before he
retired. |
Col. Loren J. White
prior to retirement 30 Sept 1984 |
