The unit formed part of the 19th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 8th Indian Infantry Division. The division fought in Iraq, Iran, Syria and North Africa before it landed at Taranto in September 1943 and fought its way up the Italian peninsula, during which Whitehouse was killed at Archi in November 1943 aged 26. He is buried in the Sangro River War Cemetery in Torino di Sangro in Chieti.