GULFPORT, Miss.–If you would like to be part of the crew welcoming back World War II vets from D.C., then you can meet them when they return from the final Miss. Gulf Coast Honor Flight today (Tuesday) at the Gulfport Airport. More than 70 vets from around the state will visit memorials from the WWII monument, to Korea, Iwo Jima and Vietnam.
It’s the last time there will be an honor flight from Mississippi, and originally attendance was only at about 40.
But, thanks to the national publicity that Mississippi’s veterans garnered when they “stormed” the barriers at the WWII monument that was barricaded during the government shutdown, the number jumped to over 70 by the time the list was done, reported News Mississippi affiliate reported Kipp Gregory, with WOSM.
The Gulf Coast Honor Flight was modeled after the same thing in Alabama, according to coordinator Wayne Leppen. He said interest started in 2010 and the original core group of organizers didn’t have a dime to do it on. But, that changed once the word got out about why the vets were going to D.C.
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