Hometown: Lees Summit, MO
Branch: U.S. Air Force
Unit: 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Operations Group, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina
Military Honors: Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters
Date of Sacrifice: April 18, 1995 - Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Carolina
Age: 34
Conflict: No declared conflict

Born on February 3, 1961, in Bitburg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany—home to a U.S. Air Force’s Bitburg Air Base—Dennis White was destined to be an airman. His father, Donald, was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force.

As a boy, White’s family kept a home in Lee’s Summit, Missouri—a suburb of Kansas City. As is the case with many military families, they moved where Air Force assignments took them. At different times, Dennis’ father Donald was stationed at Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles, California, and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon, Arizona.

The family returned to Bitburg, Germany, where Dennis attended Bitburg American High School and met his future wife, Gretchen (Dalsbo). Gretchen’s father worked for DuPont corporation in Luxembourg—and Bitburg was the nearest English-language high school. Dennis and Gretchen met in a pottery class, and she cheered for him as he played basketball.

After graduating from high school in 1979, Dennis attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, earning a bachelor’s degree in management information systems in 1983. While at the university, he participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and entered the Air Force after graduation.

After entering the Air Force, White was sent to navigator “back seater” training in Sacramento, California. From there, he was stationed in Austin, Texas, before getting an assignment to fly a RF-4C Phantom out of Zweibrücken (Germany) Air Base. The RF-4C was a fighter jet modified with cameras for tactical reconnaissance.

After marrying in June of 1986, the couple lived in Zweibrücken—where they welcomed daughter Sarah in February of 1989. A few months later, the family moved to Austin, Texas, as Dennis was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base. While in Texas, the Whites welcomed a second child, Brian, in January of 1991.

In his Air Force career, White would rise to the rank of Captain, specializing as a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO), and during his career would log 2,200 flying hours.

On August 2 of 1990, Iraq invaded its neighbor, Kuwait. The United States responded with Operation Desert Shield a strategy that organized the cooperation of 35 nations’ military forces to defend neighboring Saudi Arabia and ultimately liberate Kuwait. In January of 1991, Desert Shield would transition into Operation Desert Storm with the launch of an air campaign.

Capt. White would serve his country in both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The air and ground campaign to liberate Kuwait was highly successful, ending just over a month after it began.

White was a pilot with the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron and returned to the U.S. ahead of the rest of his squadron because he’d been assigned for training at Luke Air Force Base outside of Phoenix, Arizona, on the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet. On his return from Desert Storm, White saw his son, Brian, for the first time.

Capt. White was then assigned to the 336th “Rocketeers” Fighter Squadron, and the family moved once again, to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

On April 18, 1995, Capt. White was the Weapons Systems Officer on an F-15E, piloted by Capt. Brian J. Udell. The airmen were part of a four-ship mission that was conducting air-to-air intercept training off the coast of North Carolina.

According to Phoenix Magazine, “…the jet was in a 60-degree right-hand turn when a computer failure in the aircraft’s avionics system caused a malfunction. Instead of completing the turn, the jet was actually rocketing vertically down toward the Atlantic Ocean at supersonic speed—780 knots, or more than 800 miles per hour. At that speed, Udell knew he had only seconds before the plane plowed into the Atlantic, and no plausible way to pull out of the dive without exposing the men to brain-crushing gravitational forces.”

At 10,000 feet, Capt. Udell gave the order to eject. The aircraft’s canopy released at 4,500 feet. Capt. White ejected at 3,000 feet, Udell at 1,500. Udell would sustain life-threatening injuries, making history by surviving a Mach 1.2 ejection from a fighter jet. An Air Force investigation would conclude that the equipment malfunction was to blame and cleared Capt. Udell of any culpability in the crash.

Captain Dennis M. White would not survive the accident. He was 34. White was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. (Section 60, Site 3423).

Sources
Details and card photo submitted by Ms. Sarah Duncan—Capt. White’s Gold Star Daughter, and Gretchen White Craddock, Gold Star Wife
Folds of Honor Presents the Story of Sarah White (Video)
Arlington National Cemetery: Dennis M. White – Captain, United States Air Force
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base: Late Rocketeer's daughter visits 336th FS
Phoenix Magazine: Clipped Wings
The Patriot All-America: Soldier Honored: Dennis M. White
Burial Site: Find a Grave