Major Elmer William White

Major Elmer William “Lefty” White
b- July 27, 1903 in Millersburg, Presque Isle County, Michigan, USA
d- Mar 31,1996 in Nelson BC
Buried in Nelson Memorial Park, Nelson BC

Family Immigrated to Canada in 1912

He attended Public School in Osage SK
High School at Tyvan SK.
Attended Regina Central Collegiate, and Regina Normal School.

Father- Lewis White
b- Sept 10, 1874 in Goderich, Huron, ON
d- Dec 28, 1948 Colville, Stevens, WA, USA
Emigrated to US in 1881.
Lewis was the son of Lewis Amos White and Margaret Ann Burke
Brother to Lewis, John White, lived in Colville WA

Mother- Anna Lillian Kauffman
b- Mar 1881 in Presque Isle, MI, USA
d- 1967 Colville, Stevens, WA, USA, age 86
Anna was the daughter of Johann Conrad “John” Kauffman and Elizabeth Woodruff.
Father, Mother married Oct 3, 1900, Alpena, MI, USA

Lefty's 3 Siblings:

Floyd Lewis White
b- July 12, 1901 in Michigan, age 81
d- Dec 27, 1982 in Colville, WA, USA
Floyd was also a well known Pitcher,
in the Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League.
He played for the Milestone Sioux, ca early 1930's.

Clyde Gerald White
b- Jan 11, 1906, Millersburg, Michigan
d- Jan 13, 1982, Silver Bow Co., WA, USA
Owned a Grocery, and Meat Store in Spokane WA

Glenn Alfred “Glen” White
b- Mar 7, 1915 in Montmartre SK
d- Nov 6, 1983, Seattle WA

1910- family in Case, Presque Isle, Michigan, USA
1916 all living in Montmartre SK.
1921 all were living in Osage SK
Father Lewis operated a General Store
in Montmartre in 1916, and in Osage in 1921
Parents and 3 brothers lived in the US in 1942.
1946 Lefty was a Bottling Works man in Nelson BC.

Lefty Married Gladys May Hair, Sept 6, 1926, at Osage, SK.
b- Oct 16, 1904, Owen Sound, ON
d- Aug 10, 1987 in Nelson BC, age 82
Buried in Nelson Memorial Park, Nelson BC
His wife played Ladies Baseball in Osage.
daughter of Andrew Hair and Sarah Anderson, both born in ON
They had 2 sons, one I know is deceased, in 1982
The son that died was born in Estevan in 1932.

Lefty's Grandson was elected Dominion Secretary of the Canadian Legion in 2009.
3 Generations of military men, all were in the Canadian Military.

Lefty was a Teacher at ECI, for 10 years from 1930-1939.
May 2, 1939 he was Captain of the Estevan Collegiate Cadet Corps, 63 Members, they were rated 2nd in the Province for Efficiency.
Mr. White was also Leader of the Collegiate's Junior First Aid Team.
Shown as Athletic Coach at ECI Sept 1937.

Lefty played Baseball in SE Saskatchewan, and was widely known from Regina, south to the border, as a Great Left Handed Pitcher.
Lefty was entered into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990
He played for many teams, Estevan Soo Line, Milestone Sioux, Regina Balmorals, and Moose Jaw all Stars, and Arcola Nine, to name a few.
He was so good, all the teams were after him.

Lefty became even more famous, in WWII, as a Major in “B” Company, South Saskatchewan Regiment, when he was fighting at Dieppe.
They arrived on the beach at 5 am.
Taken prisoner at Green Beach, near Pourville, during the Dieppe Raid, Aug. 19, 1942, along with his Battalion Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt. VC
Lefty spent rest of the war, as a Prisoner of War in Germany. He went overseas with the SSR in the summer of 1940.

After the raid at Dieppe, He was even assumed dead at one point, and his family, and public, were notified.

His erroneous Obituary Aug 24, 1942
Imagine reading your own obituary!

Then his Brother Floyd White, was notified of his death.

Red Cross were finally allowed to visit the POW camps, and he was found alive and well.

Sept 19, 1942 reported a Prisoner of War in the newspapers

Sept 19, 1942 continued

By Nov 1942 they knew he was alive and well. And what was he doing?, playing softball!

While being liberated from Germany, his plane crashed on it's way to England. He managed to even survive that, after a hospital stay.

1950's he was a member of the Canadian Artillery Association

Last I seen mention of him he was in Nelson BC.
He was owner of the Columbia Bottling Works in Nelson ca 1946.

A War Veteran from Estevan.

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