September's Veteran Of The Month: Richard White

Richard White lived in many cities growing up. He was born in Butler, PA and attended 23 different schools before graduating high school.

He enlisted in the Army at the age of 20 and served from 1966–1971.

Richard's permanent duty station was South Korea, but had offices in Japan, Viet Nam and the Philippines. He was in Viet Nam three times on temporary duty. He spent all of his enlisted time overseas (other than Basic Training at Fort Campbell, KY.)

After the war, Richard went back to his old job at the Burlington Northern Railroad and has changed careers several times. He currently works at Best Buy Headquarters in Richfield in the IT department.

Richard married Cynthia Danmeier. They just celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary on August 5th. They have 2 kids and 6 grandchildren. (One grandchild died at age 8 – he was hit and killed by a car.)

When asked if he had any thoughts he wanted to share about the war or what he learned about life, Richard said, "That was not a popular war and in fact it was never officially declared a war. I think we should have been there and we lost a lot of great people. It taught me to value my friendships cause you never know when they won't be there anymore."

Special commendations that Richard earned: Soldier of the Month in April 1968 as a PFC shortly after arriving in South Korea. Awarded 2 Presidential Unit Citations.