Some 2,000 people awaited their return, offering cheers, hugs, handshakes, and music at the airport in Gulfport.
Honor Guard escorts 86 veterans from World War II into Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport after their return Wednesday night from viewing their memorial and other war sites in the nation's capital
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Members of the Navy, Marines and Army, airport officials and public formed a corridor of state flags for the returning veterans.
Family members wait for their loved ones.
Banners, signs, t-shirts, arm bands, mini-flags, posters, huge portrait, and other items were on display for the veterans.
Mitchell Cirlot, a guardian for the Honor Flight on May 11 this year, was at Gulfport's airport to greet the veterans aboard the second Honor Flight on Sept. 21.
Joy Mangum (right) waited to greet the veterans as well as her husband, Supervisor Mike Mangum, who was one of the Honor Flight guardians this year. She came to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport early to get a good place to wait for the returning WWII veterans.
Members of the Joppa Shrine talk while waiting for the return of the Honor Flight, which was delayed about an hour because of weather in Virginia.
Eric Hausken, and construction mechanic, sets up a flag.
.Members of the Navy, Marines and Army, airport officials and public formed a corridor of state flags for the returning veterans.
Family members wait for their loved ones.
Banners, signs, t-shirts, arm bands, mini-flags, posters, huge portrait, and other items were on display for the veterans.
Mitchell Cirlot, a guardian for the Honor Flight on May 11 this year, was at Gulfport's airport to greet the veterans aboard the second Honor Flight on Sept. 21.
Joy Mangum (right) waited to greet the veterans as well as her husband, Supervisor Mike Mangum, who was one of the Honor Flight guardians this year. She came to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport early to get a good place to wait for the returning WWII veterans.
Members of the Joppa Shrine talk while waiting for the return of the Honor Flight, which was delayed about an hour because of weather in Virginia.
GULFPORT -- The airport's lobby had filled with people and activities long before 87 veterans making the second Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight returned from the nation's capital Wednesday. Military personnel and residents started to arrive in earnest about 4 p.m.
Eric Hausken, and construction mechanic, sets up a flag.
Roanna, a volunteer with Honor Flight, took a water break before returning to her duties while waiting for the veterans to arrive. "I helped them get their orientation stuff ready."
Roanna had returned to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport to pick up the two guardians she'd dropped off during the early morning. "I will be over there cutting cake or selling t-shirts, I'm not sure which," she said. "I told them ya'll gone be bringing me next time if I get to be a guardian.
"They are so excited, all of them," she said of the veterans, "like when I meet them at orientation. It's just amazing."
The veterans had been expected to arrive between 7:30 and 8 p.m., but were nearly an hour late when their flight was delayed on its return to the airport.
Still, their families and friends, government and airport officials, high school students, Boy Scouts, and military personnel from the Air Force, Navy and Army waited patiently along a human corridor of honor to greet the returning veterans after a day spent visiting the World War II Memorial and other military sites.
Roanna Sabree and her stepmom, Dorothy Pigott, waited for her father, Vernon Pigott of Picayune. "He's 90, so I've very excited," Sabree said before the veterans arrived. "Mostly, I'm glad he lived long enough to be able to do this. It's wonderful thing."
Mitchell Cirlot said he couldn't miss being in Gulfport for the return of the former military personnel, including three women this time. He had served as a guardian during the first Honor Flight on May 11.
"They were like me. They said they had to come back."
He had wanted to serve again as a guardian, but apparently there were more than enough people who also wanted to serve as companions. "He said the had so many people applying with the money in hand they had to turn them away. It's unreal."
When the honorees paraded across the airport floor, Cirlot first saluted then shook hands with many of the returning veterans.
"They were like me. They said they had to come back."
He had wanted to serve again as a guardian, but apparently there were more than enough people who also wanted to serve as companions. "He said the had so many people applying with the money in hand they had to turn them away. It's unreal."
When the honorees paraded across the airport floor, Cirlot first saluted then shook hands with many of the returning veterans.
The daylong trip included a personal visit to the WWII site built for the veterans who served during the war that officially lasted from 1939 to 1945. There the veterans also ate lunch and met Rep. Steven Palazzo and Sen. Roger Wicker.
Following the WWII site, the veterans and their guardians continued on a bus tour of Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam, Iwo Jima Memorial, and Korean sites, and ended the tour at Arlington National Cemetery to watch the changing of the guard. he veterans also had a bus tour of the monuments for the Iwo Jima.
Sabree and Cook greeted the veterans heartily to military music provided by the band at Keesler Air Force Base.
"Thank you for coming," said one veteran as he shook hands with the greeters. "We had a good time... and we didn't even drink," he said laughing.
"Thank you for coming," said one veteran as he shook hands with the greeters. "We had a good time... and we didn't even drink," he said laughing.
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