This park is named for Lieutenant Clinton L. Whiting, a First Lieutenant in the 308th Infantry, who was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for Heroism in Action on August 4, 1919 for his performance on the battlefields of World War I. While on an advance through the Argonne Forest in France between the 26th and 28th of September, 1918, Whiting was able to lead his men into a key position in a marsh covered by wire, grass, and stunted brush despite heavy enemy fire. However, Whiting paid the ultimate price for his bravery, as a machine gun bullet seriously wounded him on September 28, 1918. Whiting died from his wounds on October 23rd of that same year.