Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi is only about an hour from where we were staying so we took a day trip for a visit.  

Keesler AFB?  Why did that ring a bell?  I thought and thought and then it hit me - this was where my dad was stationed for basic training in 1945!

Some of you might remember that I have a gazillion of the letters he wrote to his parents while he was there so I pulled the letters out (okay, just the Word document that I have) to see what he had to say.

FROM:

Pvt. Gordon F. Levy 19216405
3704^th AAE Base Unit
Squadron U., Class 637
Keesler Field, Mississippi

June 29, 1945

Dearest Mom & Pop:

Well, well, well!!  Outside of the heat, this place isn’t as bad as everyone said.  But of course we just got here last night and haven’t seen any more than our own barracks.  They don’t seem to know what to do with us yet so we just sit and wait.  Out of my two weeks of “battle” service, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said we’ve sat & waited 13 of them.  Now I see why they call it a standing army.

From what I can gather, by listening to a million different guys who don’t know a thing but think they know it all, I think we’ll be in basic training for 35 days and have to stay on the post the first month.  After that almost everyone becomes an aviation mechanic.  But with something like 40,000 men here, there’ll have to be some other jobs open.  No one knows the actual story. 

We were in New Orleans for about 6 hours yesterday.  It looked far different from what I can remember of the other time we were there – dirty and poorly kept.  We didn’t even bother to go to the French section.  It takes 2 ½ hrs. to get here from New Orleans.... 

...The Gulf Coast down here is full of resort hotels - so if we ever get a leave we may enjoy ourselves.  Biloxi isn't too much of a town.  But the camp looks fairly nice and plenty crowded - and if the heat dies down things will be fine.  This has a foxhole beat by far!  Compared to the infantry, this basic is duck soup.

Boy, did I feel connected to my dad all these years later.  So, of course, we needed to make a stop.

We'd seen a sign for a Visitor Center so thinking it would be like a typical visitor center when you want to find maps or other interesting information about the area, we stopped.  

Not being familiar with military procedures, I didn't realize this would be the place for people to stop so that they could visit the base with, of course, certain restrictions.  Unfortunately, we did not qualify but went inside anyway.

The soldier must have thought I was crazy when I stepped up to the desk, exclaimed that my dad was here in 1945, and asked if they had any sort of records.  Uh, no.  But thanks for visiting.

So off we went to get - you guessed it - LUNCH!

McElroy's Harbor House

After more than a decade of running an A&W Root Beer stand, James "Mac" McElroy and his son, Mickey, purchased a small snack bar in 1974 and their dream, McElroy's Harbor House, became a reality.  The Harbor House has grown and expanded into a Full scale restaurant and oyster bar overlooking the Guld of Mexico.  

In the early morning hours of August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast, leaving devastation in the aftermath.  What was once one of the most locally known restaurants was left in ruins.  Nearly seven years later, Mary 23, 2012, the Harbor House was reopened and now sits twenty nine feet above sea level and has outside dining with a view of the Gulf of Mexico.

It was too hot to sit outside but we enjoyed the view from the air conditioned restaurant.

Outside was a nice memorial for the combat wounded.

Price of Freedom Monument

We headed back with a stop in Mobile to see the grave of Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817-September 27, 1876), an army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican-American War and Confederate general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  His most important role was as commander of the Army of Mississippi, later renamed the Army of Tennessee, from June 1862 until December 1863.

Braxton Bragg

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Ahhh, we finally saw a large memorial!

And a surprise was.....

The Confederate Rest, initially called Soldiers Rest, section of the cemetery was added on November 25, 1861 for Confederate soldiers.  The monument is surrounded by the graves of 1100 Confederate war dead.

While we weren't there long, I'm glad we had the chance to visit - especially so that I could see where my father spent his time in basic training.