News - Featured Story

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Heroes miss home

Evacuees anxiously await return to Gulfport

WASHINGTON — The hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Gulfport’s destroyed Armed Forces Retirement Home today are looking at their last Veterans Day in Washington. And for almost all of them, it couldn’t come too soon.

For four years, they have adapted, or not, to life at the beautiful Washington campus, but with 10 months to go before the newly rebuilt facility reopens on the Mississippi Coast, the veterans talk of little else but getting back to Gulfport.

Most do not plan to attend the Veterans Day events in the Washington area, saying they have been to Arlington National Cemetery ceremonies before or find it too difficult to get around. But all say they appreciate the recognition.

Irene Smith, 85, the most talkative of a group of 10 former Gulfport residents gathered in the lobby of a residence building, gets emotional talking about Veterans Day.

“I thank God every day that I joined the Navy,” said Smith, a Navy WAVE in WWII.

Asked if she wants to return to the Coast, the good-natured Smith said bluntly, “That’s not a very good question.” Laughing, she said, “Gosh, yes.”

Smith loves a lot about the 272-acre Washington campus, which boasts historic buildings, including the Lincoln Cottage where President Abraham Lincoln summered and wrote a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation; the Old Soldier’s Home; and a special perk — a nine-hole golf course.

“I think the grounds are wonderful,” said Smith. “I’ve met a lot of nice people but there were a lot of nice people in Mississippi.”

“I would not want to live here,” she said.

Her complaints, echoed by many, are that they are much more isolated than they were at Gulfport’s 11-acre oceanfront building, with D.C. stores and restaurants hard to get to and driving a challenge.

To the evacuees, Gulfport is “heaven on earth.”

Frances Scott, a Mississippi Coast resident for more than 40 years before retiring to the Gulfport home, said simply, “I’m going home.”

“I miss the weather very much,” she added, referring to the mild winters. Scott and others were well aware Tropical Storm Ida had just skimmed the Coast but this hurricane-tested group was unconcerned.

Of the 414 residents in Gulfport when Katrina hit in 2005, about 350 were evacuated to Washington — many on 10 buses provided by AFRH. Now there are 202 Gulfport residents still in Washington, said AFRH spokeswoman Sheila Abarr, and at least 170 are on the return list.