LEWISTON — Betty and Charles White are grateful to have a local memorial to their son.

“It means so much,” Betty White said of the newly dedicated memorial bench at Veterans Memorial Park in Lewiston. “We can come and visit anytime we want. We can come after church.”

Betty and Charles’ son, Col. Richard White, was a highly decorated officer in the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Branch and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

“We go to Arlington every year,” Charles White said. “This year, because of the virus, we’re not able to go. We didn’t want to take the chance”

Betty said Richard had wanted to join the Army since he was in first grade. He followed in his father’s footsteps. Charles was also in the Air Defense Artillery.

Richard, who was raised in Lisbon Falls, received an Army scholarship to the University of Maine, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon graduation.

In September 1989, he started with the 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Regiment, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he deployed to Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm as a Vulcan/Stinger platoon leader.

Richard had many assignments throughout his career, serving in Korea and Iraq. He also held positions with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and at the Pentagon. He was a four-time recipient of the Bronze Star, a recipient of the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, and an instructor at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

The memorial bench at Veteran’s Memorial Park bears the same inscription as on Richard’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

“It means so much to us,” Charles said.