Mack Whittemore was born in Hampton, Carter County, Tennessee, the son of William Henry Whittemore and Bessie Lucinda Rowe.
Buried at Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, D, 19, 11
The Johnson City Press, 24 December 1944
Pvt. Mack C. Whittemore, 21-year-old fighter with the now famous “Galloping Ghost” Second Armored Division, was killed in action in Germany, November 23, the War Department has notified his aunt, Miss Effie Casteele of Milligan road. A veteran of four yars of Army service, Private Whittemore had been overseas two years, serving in North Africa, England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He made his home with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A.L. Rowe of Happy Valley, for several years prior to his enlistment. Other survivors are his mother, Mrs. A.N. Patterson, and two sisters, Mrs. K.W. Garber and Miss Maude Elaine Whittemore, all of Detroit, Mich. Private Whittemore attended school in Johnson City and was a member of Buffalo Valley Christian Church. He had Army training at Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Bragg, N.C.
The young soldier’s family learned of his division’s service history recently on receipt of an October release from the First United States Army. At the time, the “Galloping Ghost” of the Allied forces, the Second Armored, was operating in the First Army area in Germany. It was this outfit that made headlines under the ambiguous term “American Armor” in the dash through France into Belgium. Covering 60 miles in three days, the division took Beauvais and Montdidier in Northern France, smashing enemy armor and motor transport which ran unexpectedly into the steel fist. The division hit the Belgium frontier September 2 and streaked toward Tourai. Reconnaissance units of the division were in Tournai some hours before it was officially announced that American units were in Belgium. An associated Press release by Correspondent Don Whitehead, dated October 4, said that when the battle-stained division rolled into a Dutch town, the foreman of the coal mine called at headquarters to express his appreciation for liberation. The release continued: The Germans didn’t leave us much to give you, but we wondered if your soldiers would like to use the showers at the mine?” Since then thousands of boys have had hot baths. Pvt. Bernard Johnson of Franklin, Ga., and Private Whittemore wiped the soap from their eyes and said, “It’s been a hell of a long time since we’ve seen anything like this. Our last real bath was in England before the invasion. We’ve been moving too far too fast to even wash our faces most of the time.”
Whitehead also revealed the division which “disappeared” as a “dark horse” after the breakthrough at St. Lo, until it turned up in Germany, was the unit which swept across Sicily with the Third Infantry Division to capture Palermo.
- Rank: Private
- Date of birth: 12 May 1923
- Date of death: 23 November 1944
- County: Washington
- Hometown: Johnson City
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 41st Infantry Battalion, 2nd Armored Division
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIX, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Mack C. Whittemore
Image Gallery
Click a thumbnail below to view at full size.
