Steven W. White

Headquarters and Headquarters Battery

4th Battalion 42nd Field Artillery

4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

KIA August 13, 2003

Army Sgt. Steven W. White

Died August 13, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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29, of Lawton, Okla.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, based at Fort Hood, Texas;
killed when his M113 armored personnel carrier hit an antitank mine on Aug. 13 in Tikrit, Iraq.
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Steven W. White

Rank: Sgt.
Service: U.S. Army
Age: 29
Hometown: Lawton

Died: Aug. 13, 2003 in Tikrit, Iraq when the armored personnel carrier he was riding in hit an anti-tank mine.

White served one tour of duty with the U.S. Army at Fort Sill. His family said he tried truck driving, but re-enlisted in 2001 because he didn't like the pay.

Steven White is survived by his wife, Laniece, and four children, ages 16 months to 12 years.
He was assigned to Fort Hood as a truck mechanic after re-enlisting at Lawton.

Sgt. Steven W. White was already a nine-year Army veteran when he signed up for another six years, just before he headed to Iraq.
Based at Fort Hood, he liked to visit with family in the east Texas town of Fruitvale. "He would always want to come home
and visit with classmates and see his family," said his wife, Laniece White. "He was a simple man. It didn't take much to please him."
White, 29, was killed Aug. 13 when his armored troop carrier hit an anti-tank mine just outside Tikrit, Iraq. He was a mechanic
and had been in Iraq for about four months. He is also survived by four children, ages 16 months to 12 years..

Published online on January 28, 2005

NOLA.com

SSG Steven White's decorations

SSG Steven W. White

East Texas soldier killed in Iraq mine explosion

Associated Press

FRUITVALE, Texas — A soldier from this East Texas town was killed this week in a land mine explosion in Iraq, military officials said.

Sgt. Steven Wayne White, a 29-year-old mechanic, died and another soldier suffered severe burns Aug. 13 when their armored troop carrier hit an anti-tank mine
just outside Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown.

White’s family was notified of his death later that night. At least 60 Americans have been killed in Iraq since May 1,
when President Bush declared major combat operations over.

“He would always want to come home and visit with classmates and see his family,” his wife, Laniece, told the Tyler Morning Telegraph for Aug. 15 editions.
“He was a simple man. It didn’t take much to please him.”

White, a Fruitvale High School graduate, was a nine-year Army veteran assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood. He re-enlisted in February
for six more years and had been in Iraq for about four months.

The 4th Infantry Division is headquartered in Tikrit at what had been one of Saddam’s main palaces.

Military officials say White and the burned soldier were traveling as part of a four-vehicle convoy when it struck the mine. Other details were not made public.

“Every time somebody mentions it, it starts to make me cry,” Charles White, the soldier’s father, told KLTV-TV. “I just broke down. It hit me hard.”

Laniece White said her husband’s body would be flown first to Maryland and then to Texas.

“It’s something that I did try to prepare myself for,” she said. “We did discuss funeral arrangements and things of that nature before he left
because we knew what the possibilities were.”

In addition to his wife, White is survived by four children ranging in age from 12 years to 16 months.

Fruitvale is about 60 miles east of Dallas and home to about 430 residents.

Burial:
Haven of Memories Cemetery
Canton
Van Zandt County
Texas, USA

Grave marker for Steven W. White

Photo by Shelly Huff from the Find A Grave website

For tributes to SSG Steven White click on the following links:

Together We Served

Fallen Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom

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