Gordon White enlisted into the General Service Corps and volunteered for airborne forces whilst serving with The Royal Sussex Regiment in June 1943.He qualified as a military parachutist on Course 75 which ran at RAF Ringway from 26 July to 6 August 1943. The instructors’ report states ‘Pte White: Confident – fairly good.’

Pte ‘Chalky’ White was posted to The 9th (Essex) Parachute Battalion and jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944. He took part in the assault on the German gun battery at Merville and was wounded in action.

After the Second World War ‘Chalky’ spent around twenty years in the Territorial Army.

Gordon White died on Friday 4 July 2014