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Pfc Whitney W. Bangs enlisted in Newark, New Jersey on 26 June 1943.
Whitney Bangs was a quiet and pleasant boy, imperturbable, genuine, very friendly, a steady worker, with much more influence than he ever knew. He took part in numerous school activities and was a particularly effective stage manager of the Dramatic Club. One month after his graduation from the school, he was inducted into the army, and after basic training was assigned to A.S.T.P. at the University of Florida. When A.S.T.P. was discontinued, he was transferred to the infantry. He went overseas in August 1944. In November, he was wounded, but he returned to his unit after a short period in a hospital. In February 1945, Whitney Bangs was reported missing in action since 21 January. Later he was reported a prisoner of war, and still later to have died in Germany, March 5, 1945.
In a letter to his family of one of his comrades wrote what happened on the day Pfc Bangs was taken prisoner: "Our battalion in early January relieved units of the 90th Div. thus freeing them to be sent north into the center of the Bulge. Our area was in the vicinity of the German-held town of Orscholz in the Saar-Moselle triangle, i.e., the area to the west of the junction of the Saar-Moselle rivers. On the evening of January 19, our battalion (of which Whitney was a member) received orders to take the town and the surrounding high ground....B Co., Whitney's outfit, and a portion of A Co., acting as a Commando group, were to take the pill-boxes before the town in order that the remainder of the battalion could enter by the rear. This commando group were to have completed their job before daylight so that the main attack could also begin under cover of darkness. The Germans however, sensing the plan, abandoned the pill-boxes and allowed the commando group to come to the edge of the town itself. The enemy then re-entered the pill-boxes, surrounded the force and exposed them to a horrible concentration of point-blank fire which our men withstood for almost three days before the remnants gave up. My part of the battalion, the main force, undertook three attacks to the relief of the commando group, but each attempt was beaten off with terrible loss, until we were forced to retire. Our opponents, erroneously believed to be German home guard, were in actuality the 11th Panzer or "Ghost" division with a battle history a mile long. As we retired, our entire battalion numbered just under 160 men...."

He died at the hospital of Stalag XI-B of pneumonia. His remains were discovered at the POW cemetery in Oerbke, Germany in april 1946.

He was initially buried at the American Military Cemetery Ardennes on 27 April 1946 but at the request of his family he was given his fnal resting place next to his brother Francis N. Bangs Jr.