A Lehighton native learned about respect and how to follow orders during his time in the military.

Bobby White, of Parryville, graduated from Lehighton High School in 1962, and enlisted in the Air Force in April 1963.

While there, White was a firefighter/crash rescue.

His first base was at Sculthorpe, England, but after about nine months, the base was closed and he was sent to Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany.

“The way of life in the foreign countries was an eye-opener; we, living in America, don’t know how lucky we are,” White said. “In England not many homes had central heat, but the people were so nice.”

White recalled his first Christmas away from home when one of the guys he was stationed with asked him to go with him to visit his girlfriend, who worked at a nice restaurant north of where White was stationed.

“When we got there by train, the owner of the restaurant asked us if we wanted to have something to eat,” White said. “At the time, making only $96 dollars a month, I didn’t have money to eat at a place like that. But she took us inside and said she would take care of the bill, and said to us, if she had a wish at Christmas, she would wish for all service personal to go home for the holidays.

“Back then, I wished I would have had a cellphone so I could have stayed in touch with her. I worked 24 hours a day, every other day. We ate and slept at the fire station.

“Also, when you ordered fish and chips, it was wrapped in newspaper. That was hard for me to get used to. The ink on my fish and chips didn’t look that great, but it did taste great.”

It was quite a switch once White returned to America.

“I guess the thing I couldn’t understand when I came back to the States was how the veterans were treated,” he said. “Some members were drafted and some enlisted, and they served their country but got no respect for doing so.”

White said his first job was working for Blue Ridge Cable as a lineman, and after a year-and-a-half, he began working for the Lehighton Light and Power Department, from which he retired after 37 years.

“In the military, you’re taught respect and how to follow orders, which was a help when you get out and enter the workforce,” he said.

White, 80, currently serves as second vice commander of the Lehighton American Legion Post 314.

He is married to Carol Markley White and has two sons, Brian and his wife, Brigitte, and Greg and his wife, Lisa. He also has a stepdaughter, Kim Hager, and a stepson, Justin Clay and his wife, Erica, along with eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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