William White was listed as missing on Ambon sometime on or about 20 January. His Hudson aircraft had been damaged by a Japanese attack and so he and his crew were unable to leave with the rest of 2 Squadron when they evacuated the island.
In 1946 his mother received a letter from the Secretary, Casualty Section, Albert Park Barracks, advising her of the circumstances of her son's death. William had been one of a party of Dutch and Australian POWs who were killed by the Japanese at Laha sometime between 6 and 20 February 1942. He and a group of 11 other RAAF personnel were making their way from Ambon to the neighbouring island of Ceram where they had made arrangements to be picked up by a RAAF aircraft. They were captured by a Japanese naval patrol as they attempted to cross from Ambon to Ceram and were taken to Laha where they were executed.
William's mother first received confirmation of her son's death in June 1946, ten months after the Japanese surrender and more than four years after his death. She had written to the Directorate of War Graves requesting a photograph of the Galala War Cemetery on Ambon where her son was buried and in her letter she had asked that her son be commemorated with the inscription:
A life nobly given forever remembered
Unfortunately it was not possible to give her son a personal inscription because he, like many of the men who died in Ambon, has no known grave. William White is instead commemorated on the Ambon memorial.
William White died before he knew he had been recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his skill and daring on operations in CELEBES-AMBON areas. His DFC was presented to his mother at Government House in Sydney on 13 January 1946. It is held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.