Freeman White was born on March 19, 1930, and passed away on November 24, 2024. His lovely wife of 66 years, Wilma, preceded him in death on September 9, 2021. Freeman’s legacy as a Purple Heart recipient is an appropriate story to retell, as this is the season for the Wreaths Across America event.
As the youngest of six brothers who all served in our country in war zones, Freeman signed up for the US Marine Corps in 1948. In December of 1950 he entered active duty — the Korean War had begun in June of that same year. Freeman’s combat training took place at Camp Pendleton, and afterwards he departed for Korea on a transport ship. It landed in Pusan, and from there his group flew north to an airstrip and boarded trucks to trek even farther north. This began his year-long duty in combat.
In fact, combat began as the trucks traveled to their assignments, As the men received mortar shells, they bailed out of their trucks, took cover till firing ceased, then climbed back on board to continue as far as the trucks could go. (Some of these new soldiers actually lost their lives en route to their first duty station.)
Freeman was assigned to Item Co, First Marine Division, 3rd Battalion. In his first battle, he was ordered to affix his bayonet, which he never had to used but said it was there to intimidate. Soon he advanced to the BAR (Browning Automatic Repeating rifle), which is a 30 caliber but fires like a machine gun, maintaining a low profile. He explains that he runs, fires, hits the deck, shoots from the shoulder while on the ground, reloads, and runs again. “I could see bullets hitting leaves and trees all around me, and I could hear the whistle of every shell as it flew over my head. Some landed in front of me; it was as if I could count them!”
The firefight (this was the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in Northern Korea that Freeman is describing) between the Marines and the Koreans created so much black smoke that it looked like a forest fire, and it stunk. Freeman recalls how thrilling it was to see relief from the air – Navy, Marines, and Air Force – flying P40s and P51s. When the weather restricted visibility and the planes couldn’t intervene, the Navy battleships could! They sat off the ocean, so while the Marines fired at the enemy, the Navy’s 16” guns shot over their heads.
When Freeman was wounded (explained below), he says that corpsmen were immediately on the scene to transport him to the hospital tent and from there to the hospital in Pusan. He spent three weeks there recuperating before being sent back on the lines.
Another harrowing memory Freeman shares was when he took the left route, as he felt that God led him on that path, while his buddy went right. Suddenly, there was an explosion. The buddy had stepped on a land mine and couldn’t understand why he couldn’t walk. His leg had been blown off. Freeman quickly placed a tourniquet on it, but the soldier did not survive the wound.
The following story is from a presentation Freeman made as Chair of Honor at the Somerset Historical Society on November 19, 2015, and shared by Dan Winans.
“…I had a nephew. We went to Boot Camp together in San Diego, California, but we didn’t want to talk to our buddies to let them know we were kin. My uncle was afraid they would want to separate us. When we graduated, both of us were really tall, both side by side in the middle of the picture, but we got separated and he entered into boot camp and I went on to combat training.
“I kinda lost track of him until one time in Korea as we were going on foot, with a rifle on my shoulder and a backpack, going through artillery fire in support of the front line. Now everyone called me White, and I hear someone hollering ‘Freeman! Freeman!’ It was my nephew! We walked along a little bit, talking, and each of us asking the other to ‘tell the folks back home that I’m doin’ alright.’
“I have to tell you a story about Kenneth Taylor. He was the Ag teacher at Somerset High School. In Korea, we (the 1st Marine Division) were sent to relieve the 7th Marines that Kenneth was in. It was really cold – 30 degrees below zero – and they were in bad shape. When we got close, I remember the smell that was in the air. There had been so much gunfire that I said it smelled like death. But we got him out.
“I was assigned an MI rifle at first, then I was given a Browning Automatic. While I liked my MI, I loved my BAR. It was heavy, about 20 pounds, and with a bunch of one pound clips to carry, it was pretty heavy, along with all the other gear I had to carry.
“Late in the evenings when I was out shooting my BAR to get the enemy riflemen who were shooting at our guys, I would get returning fire from the Chinese when they saw me shoot at them. I learned to play dead for 30 seconds to a minute, then they’d start shooting at someone else. Then I could see where they were shooting from and get ‘em.
“Before each attack, our chaplain would read scripture. The Lord got us through it.
“One time there were 12 or 13 of us on patrol. We left at daybreak [to go] after some of the Chinese that were picking our guys off behind the lines. We came across two huts. I volunteered to take out the first one we came across. I snuck up on it, tossed in a grenade, then fired a round inside. We left and found another hut. I volunteered to do to this hut what I had done to the last one. By the time we got finished, I was so tired that my buddies had to carry my rifle. When we got back, Captain told me to hit the sack and get some sleep and not to take guard duty, but I took guard duty anyway.
“One Sunday the LT said the Captain wanted to see me. Captain asked me if I’d be a driver for the Colonel. I told him I didn’t want to leave the guys, but he asked again and I went to drive the Colonel’s jeep. On one drive, mortars were hitting around the Colonel’s jeep and hit him. He told me to go get the other wounded and drive them out of the way. I did get several of the other wounded to safety, and we got another Colonel.
“How did I get my Purple Heart? My wound was from a Chinese grenade shrapnel to my head. I was sitting with another guy and this Chinese tossed a grenade between us. [A few] years ago when I got an MRI, the technician got really excited and asked if I knew that I had some metal in my head. I told him that I wasn’t surprised,
“When our 1st Marines came home, there was a big welcoming banner: WELCOME HOME TROOPS. JOB WELL DONE! It made me feel great.”
When Freeman returned home, he went to work for Shell Oil Company. But it was a long time before the imprint of his war experience began to fade. For example, he recalled that when working on an oil rig he had to struggle to adjust to the explosions and loud noises that were sometimes overwhelming. And once meeting a car on a narrow, rutted road he froze over fear that he would encounter a land mine. Although being in combat for less than a year, the imprint remained much longer.
Freeman White passed away in his sleep while living at the Discovery Village at the Dominion. He had lived in the facility since June of 2020, and naturally he had made so many friends. “They just loved Freeman and will miss him,” says Lisa White, Freeman’s son Rocky’s wife. Freeman passed peacefully on November 24, 2024. His funeral services will be on December 13 at 10:am at First Baptist Church, Devine