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October 1, 2010
Our retired veterans return home after 5-year absence
The City of Gulfport is asking residents and businesses along the route from the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport to the new Armed Forces Retirement Home to give our veterans a warm welcome back to Mississippi.
For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, most of the military veterans who called Gulfport home for so long are returning on Monday and will be traveling by bus from the airport to the new AFRH around 11:40 a.m.
City Hall is asking property owners to hang “Welcome Home” signs along the following route: From the airport, down Washington Avenue to Pass Road and from Pass Road to Cowan-Lorraine Road to the beach and then on to the new 650-000 square-foot AFRH.
The new home replaces the old 11-story building that was imploded shortly after the storm. The building is large enough for up to 584 residents and each room features a balcony view of the Gulf.
A few days after Katrina pummeled the beachfront campus, nearly 400 veterans evacuated and headed for the government's only other retirement home in Washington. The average age of the veterans sent to Washington was 78.
Most of those residents were part of the rapidly vanishing generation of World War II veterans, who die at a rate of about 1,300 a day, according to Department of Veterans Affairs estimates.
Each of them have been waiting anxiously to return to their Southern home and the City of Gulfport is more than happy to welcome them back.
Office of Public Information - rlafontaine@gulfport-ms.gov - Phone: 228-868-5782
P.O. Box 1780 Gulfport, MS 39502-1780 - FAX: 868-5800
