Highest Veteran Count in Mississippi Declines

GULFPORT -- The highest number of veterans in Mississippi live in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties, but the total had fallen since 2000, according to the lastest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau said the decline is partly due to Hurricane Katrina, which in general has reduced the population of the three coastal counties since the storm five years ago.

Full Story:
Coast Has Most Vets, But Numbers Show Decline
The Sun Herald/Dec. 29, 2010
Story by Michael Newsom

Flying Jennies Train for Deployment to Afghanistan in January

The "Flying Jennies"



TSgt Dana Kelley of Ocean Springs prepares a parachute for an airdrop off an 815th Airlift Squardron Super Hercules airplane during a training mission Tuesday at Keesler Air Force Base. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan/The Mississippi Press)

A C-130J-30 at KAFB

Holiday Mail to Heroes Sent to national Red Cross in D.C.

Resurrection High School students dress as elves to collect signed greeting cards to send to military personnel through Holiday Mail for Heroes, a program by the American Red Cross, during Downtown for the Holidays on Dec. 3 in Delmas Plaza in Pascagoula.

PASCAGOULA -- Holley Cunningham said that 8,040 greeting cards were collected during November and the weekend of Dec. 3-4 for the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign sponsored by the American Red Cross.

This year is the first time residents in Jackson County have participated in the national campaign, which provides cards for those who want to wish military personnel a happy holiday, and also allows residents to purchase individual cards for their own personal Christmas message.

Cunningham, a 17-year-old senior at Resurrection High, mailed the cards Dec. 7 to Washington, D.C. "I was told they should arrive (Dec. 10)," she said.

Resurrection High School Senior Gathers Christmas Cards for Soldiers
November 25, 2010 @ www.gulflive.com/themississippipress

Holiday Mail for Heroes Hailed at Downtown Fest

PASCAGOULA -- Holley Cunningham has collected 8,040 cards during the local Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign, sponsored nationally by the American Red Cross.

Cunningham, 17, collected the cards during November and this past weekend, beginning with Downtown for the Holidays event on Friday night and on Saturday at sign-up stations at Jerry Lee's Grocery on Ingalls Avenue and at Singing River Mall in Gautier.

More information may be obtained at www.redcross.org.