Graceon White Jr.

Bristol’s only Korean War casualty is remembered.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com


Over 450,000 Americans died in the Korean War and World War II. Only one from Bristol, according to most sources.

A member of the Bristol High School Class of 1950, Sergeant First Class Graceon H. White, Jr. served as squad leader with the 7th Infantry Division, 17th Infantry Regiment in the U.S. Army.
White died during this week (July 10) in 1952 at the tender age of 20, while on patrol duty.
White lived a short life, but still has a story worth telling from his years before his untimely death.

White was a varsity football player in Bristol High. He lived with his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Lucy White, since his widowed dad worked out of town quite often.

After graduation from high school in the Summer of 1950, White took a job in Bristol Borough at Leedom’s Carpet Mill on Beaver Street before he enlisted in the Army in March of 1951.
At the time of his death, his father, Graceon H. White, Sr. and his stepmother, Mildred White and his only sibling, Marie White, survived him.

Graceon, in his short life of two decades, was unable to leave a lot of history but he left a lot of heart. He gave his all in what has been termed “The Forgotten War.”

Graceon served with Corporal Fred Bernerd McGee, Sr., who distinguished himself by gallantry in action near Tang-Wan-Ni, Korea during an assault on enemy fortified positions.

According to Corporal Fred, he and Graceon and their other buddy, the late Captain Charles “Sonny Boy” Simpson III were “real fast friends and looked like brothers.”

As the gunner on a light machine gun in a weapons squad, Corporal McGee delivered a heavy volume of supporting fire from an exposed position, despite intense enemy machine gun and mortar fire directly on his position. One particular combat was a “very bad battle, a bloodbath.”
Fred was shot in the face and the leg. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor and a Battlefield Commission by his West Point commanding officer, but this was pre-Civil Rights America. When the medals were distributed, he received a lesser medal, the Silver Star.

Cpl. McGee’s heroic actions and decisive thinking saved many on that bloody battlefield but a few months later, he was unable to dissuade Graceon from participating in the battle that claimed his life.

“I’m not worried,” Graceon responded. He was determined to make “Master Sergeant and go home and get married.”

The “good guy who never smoke or drank” was killed that night and lay on the road among several other bodies under the makeshift shelters. Fred refused to look at his friend for the last time.

Graceon’s grandmother had baked and sent homemade cookies for the three of them as they were unselfishly enduring the harsh environment and remaining focused to their cause of freedom. Fred made a trip to Bristol in the 1980s but was unsuccessful in locating any of Graceon’s family.

Girlfriend at the time of death, May Daughtrey and White had exchanged letters every day. She was engaged in 1950 to the “very handsome, very nice, and a lot of fun” soldier.

“Everyone seemed to love him. He was a genuine good person.”

As high school sweethearts, they swam and ice skated together at Silver Lake and played co-ed softball. In the last letter she received, he had written, “I’m gonna go on my last patrol and be home soon.” Cpl. McGee reminisced, “Graceon loved that girl May.”

She shed many tears as she walked around Silver Lake in the evenings after she lost him.
California resident W. May Guillory now has three daughters and two granddaughters. She has never forgotten him, especially every July 10.

White's close friend, Sid Taylor, a local historian, was especially impacted by Graceon’s death because “his life was cut so short.”

According to Sid, “He was smart; a very bright kid. He was born to be a hero. It was the way he was.”

Sid recalls him as a very good football and baseball player: “He played hard. He would get knocked out cold.”

White gave his own dark blue Elks baseball cap to Sid as a keepsake when he left for the service. Sid remembers their last car ride when he drove to Fort Dix with Graceon, his father and his girlfriend, May.

Sid paused for a few moments. With compassion, he shared, “He gave all he had for his country.” Graceon White made the supreme sacrifice.

And that sacrifice came just 20 years after his birth, touching many people along the way, despite few records of his legacy around.

Though one quote under his yearbook picture reflects the feelings of all who knew him:
“Gray is friendly in every way. We hope he never goes away.”

*Cate Murway contributed to this article.