Veteran’s remains may return to Biloxi
Recently North Korea returned 55 caskets containing the remains of American soldiers. Biloxi city officials hope a local veteran who lost his life in the Korean War is part of those remains.
After a summit with President Trump, North Korea agreed to return the remains of 200 servicemen. With the rich military history Biloxi has, city officials wondered if any of these veterans would be from the Coast. An old friend of Biloxi Chief Administrative Officer Mike Leonard made that connection. “A good friend of mine in high school called me and said ‘you know we had a neighbor when we were growing up that was actually shot down in Korea and he’s never been found and now that bodies are coming back how can we find out if he’s one of them.’”
A Biloxi native, First Lieutenant Robert Gaude Jr. grew up on Hopkins Boulevard and was only 22 at the time of his death. On July 10th, 1953, Gaude had just finished a bombing in North Korea when his plane was hit on the way back, causing a fatal crash.
Normally, if remains are found, family members are contacted, but since Gaude has no living relatives, Biloxi decided to take on that role. Mayor Gilich wrote a letter to the defense department to let them know Biloxi wants to be notified if Gaude is among the remains. “If his remains are found, we want it to be on record that he has a home here to come to,” said Leonard.
Leonard says that if Gaude’s remains are found they will be placed at Southern Memorial Park where his mom and sister lay and his memorial has been held for more than 65 years. Cecilia Dobbs Watson with the City of Biloxi said, “It may take a couple of years for this to happen, but when it does, we will definitely put information out and let the public know and hopefully everybody will come together and give this military person the funeral he deserves.”
His memory is not only held within Southern Memorial Park, Gaude Bowling Center at Keesler Air Force Base is named in honor him.
City officials have high hopes this local hero will finally make his way back home.
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