Meggan Monday: Mississippi Gulf Coast Veterans Memorial Park

The military is a huge part of our South Mississippi Community.  We have Keesler Air Force Base, CRTC, the Seabee Base, the National Guard Base, and Camp Shelby, just to name a few.

On this week’s Meggan Monday, we want to take you along on a tour of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Veterans Memorial Park in Ocean Springs, where our military service members are honored.

“Well, this is the Mississippi Gulf Coast Veterans Memorial Park. We have a memorial to the submarine forces, which is maintained by the Submarine Veterans. We have the main mast from the USS Mississippi, which was a nuclear guided missile carrier, guided missile cruiser. We have memorials to each of the 22 Mississippians who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.”

“We have a number of projects. One is the refurbishment of the UH-1 helicopter that we’re looking at right now. It’s been up there since 1997 and is badly in need of a paint job. We’re going to accomplish that very soon. We’re going to receive an M-60 tank for static display. That’s courtesy of the Mississippi National Guard. We’re constantly looking for ways to upgrade the facilities to include additions to our Walk of Honor. We have a brick program going.”

“The Vietnam Veteran Memorial has photos of servicemen who have lost their life, those that are from Mississippi. You’ll notice there are some of the areas do not have a photo, those photos we are in the process of receiving and we’ll have those engraved and placed next to their fellow servicemen.”

“Producing the missing photographs on ceramic material is an expensive process. So, part of the fundraising that we’re doing right now includes the memorial bricks that people can order and they’ll be placed on our Walk of Honor, which was first installed in 1997. So, now we’re expanding that Walk of Honor.”