Legion Post 1992 to Hold Cruise-In

GAUTIER -- A cruise-in will be held Saturday, April 30, at American Legion Post 1992 to help support the Honor Flight scheduled for May 11.

Jen Walton said that chicken plates will be served from noon until 3 p.m. The cruise-in takes place from 4 to 8 p.m.

Keesler Reopens Gate at White Avenue

BILOXI -- The White Avenue gate to Keesler Air Force Base has reopened, authorities said.

The entrance, two blocks north of the beach, was closed Friday because of a waterleak.

Motorists were rerouted to Bayview Drive and Pass Road gates instead. The leadk has been fised, according to information on Keesler website. -- By Donna Harris, Sun Herald, April, 24, 2011

5 Years of Memories for Patrolman Byrd

HURLEY -- This Sunday, March 27, will mark five years of memories of the too-short but full life of Patrolman Terry Micheal Byrd.

The Pascagoula motorcycle officer was killed in 2006 when he tried to avoid a vehicle waiting to turn in traffic and instead was thrown into the path of an oncoming dump truck. The truck subsequently ran over Byrd during the traffic accident on Chicot Road.

April 11 will mark the birthday of the young officer, who was 27 years old when he died while on his way to visit a sister and her newborn son. He was born in 1979.

Hog Wild Party Set for National Guard

LUCEDALE -- This coming weekend will bring on a Hog Wild Homecoming for the 287th Engineering Company when the National Guard unit returns from a year-long tour in Afghanistan.

City officials said Saturday's event will take place at Lucedale City Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to media report

The 130-member unit left the city and their families in March 2010, and will return to a feast of barbecue, ceremony, and gathering of family, city officials and residents.


Lucedale National Guard Unit's Return to be Marked with 'Hog Wild' Party
March 01, 2011 The Mississippi Press

Honor Flight Meets with Volunteers in OS

OCEAN SPRINGS -- Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight organizers have about three weeks to gather final monies needed to send some 90 veterans to the nation's capitol May 11.

The call for more volunteers garnered about 30 residents at a meeting Wednesday night in this city, according to reporter Harlan Kirgan at www.gulflive.com/themississippipress.

"Basically what this meeting is about is fundraising," said MGC Honor Flight President Kim Foster. "all the money to be raised needs to be raised by April 1."

She said $15,000 has been collected in the last two weeks.

Honor Flight Ramps Up Fundraising

Gulfport Officially Opens Robert Curry Public Safety Center

GULFPORT -- While police staff already have moved in the new Robert J. Curry Public Safety Center, personnel with the city's court system will soon follow suit, according to local media.

On Thursday, Gulfport officials and employees and the public turned out for the official opening of the $22 million building in downtown. Police personnel moved in during December last year, according to reporter Anita Lee at http://www.sunherald.com/

"We're finally home," a beaming police chief, Alan Weatherford, said, "and we're in a state-of-the-art facility that was built for law enforcement."

City Celebrates New Home for Police, Courts @ sunherald.com

Gulfport Opens New Safety Center, Honors Fallen Police Officers @ wlox.com

The building was named for former police officer Robert Curry, who was killed in 2008 while helping to escort a funeral procession on U.S. 49. Curry's mother, Dorothy Gibson, attended the dedication of the new public safety center, which was built to house police and court system staff.

"He will always be sadly missed," said Gibson at wlox.com. "We thank God for giving us Rob for just a little while."

See photographs of the dedication ceremony at sunherald.com

Among the more than 200 people who attended the ceremony for the Robert J. Curry Public Safety Center were his wife, Leslee Curry, and their two children, teenager Krysten and grade schooler Trevor.

"I love it. It's very good for all the officers and for the whole department. It's a good reminder of Rob, and to keep his memory alive," said Leslee Curry to wlox.com reporter Elizabeth Vowell.

According to the news reports, the building includes rooms named for seven other Gulfport police officers who died in the line of duty. As well, a monument to the fallen officers stands outside the building.

Sgt. 1st Class Sean Cooley Remembered

OCEAN SPRINGS -- Feb. 3 will mark six years that Sgt. 1st Class Sean Michael Cooley lost his life while fighting in Northern Babil Province, Iraq.

Cooley died during 2005 when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

An Ocean Springs resident, Cooley was assigned to the 150th Engineer Battalion, 155th Armor Brigade of the Mississippi National Guard in Lucedale.

See other information at FallenHeroesMemorial and MilitaryTimes.

http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/

http://www.militarytimes.com/

Cooley was the 21st soldier with Mississippi ties to die in the war on terror, and the fifth Mississippi National Guardsman to die in Iraq, according to MilitaryTimes.

Michael Green Memorial 2011

GAUTIER -- January 07 this year marks three years for remembrance of Major Michael Lee Green, who was killed in Afghanistan during 2008.

Born April 6, 1971, Green was 36 years old when he died after a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Ironically, Green was training militia recruits how to detect and dispose of roadside bombs. Although he was serving in Afghanistan, he was stationed in Germany.

Green was returned to a hero's welcome and funeral services at First Baptist Church of Gautier, where residents in South Mississippi lined the roadway from his native city to the U.S. National Cemetery in Biloxi.

The Patriot Guard Riders helped with ceremonies at the funeral home in Pascagoula, church and funeral route to Biloxi.

See pictures from the day of the service at http://www.flounderwear.com/.

Read the official obituary at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula (4811 Telephone Road, Pascagoula.)

(http://www.obryantokeefe.com/)

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.