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The Gulf Coast Military Academy(GCMA) was a military school in Mississippi. It was founded in 1912 [1] by Colonel James Chappel Hardy in Gulfport, Mississippi. It ceased operation in 1976. After severe damage in Hurricane Katrina, a small part of the facility was restored and became a site for the Armed Forces Museum.
This preparatory school for boys was founded in 1912. The senior division campus closed in 1951, and became the site of the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Gulfport, formerly known as the United States Naval Home.
The Senior Branch of the Academy was closed in 1952, [2] and the grounds were purchased by the federal government. [3] The Senior Branch grounds and buildings became the property of the USAF, and was designated as Keesler Annex #3. The former Senior Academy facilities were initially used as Technical Training Headquarters for Keesler AFB and the old Academy Chow Hall became the Base Chapel.
Officer training was conducted in electronics for communications, ground electronics (radar), and weapons controller assignments. Many of the former academy buildings were used for classrooms, administration, and storage.
In 1973, the former Senior Academy grounds and facilities were transferred to the US Navy. [3] At that time, the Navy Retirement Home was moved to the former Academy grounds. Later, the Navy Home was re-designated as part of the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH).
The Junior Branch (Grades 1-9) remained open through the Summer Session of 1976 when the President and Owner of the Academy, COL Charles M. Holt, closed the school and sold the remaining property and buildings to William Carey College in Hattiesburg, MS. It opened as "William Carey on the Coast" in 1976 with roughly 300 students. [1]
In 2005, the facilities were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina and all the residents of the Retirement Home and College were moved to other locations.
The damaged AFRH was scheduled to be demolished in 2020. [4]
The cornerstone to the old office complex, the former C & D Companies and the administration offices were salvaged. The facility was transferred to the Armed Forces Museum, at Camp Shelby, MS. The grounds of both the Senior and Junior Academies are now empty.
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Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,435. Waveland was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.
Biloxi is a city and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054, and in 2019 the estimated population was 46,212. The area's first European settlers were French colonists.
Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the other county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city of Gulfport had a total population of 67,793, with nearly 400,000 in the metro area as of 2018. It is also home to the US Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees.
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22,392 at the 2010 census, down from 26,200 at the 2000 census. As of 2019 the estimated population was 21,699. It is the county seat of Jackson County.
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, primarily in Forrest County and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 45,863 in 2019. It is the principal city of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses Forrest, Lamar and Perry counties.
Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport is a joint civil–military public-use airport three nautical miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Gulfport, a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is owned by the Gulfport–Biloxi Regional Airport Authority and serves the Gulf Coast area.
Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi native killed in France during the First World War. The base is home of Headquarters, Second Air Force and the 81st Training Wing of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to serve as a major independent mobilization station of the United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center is the largest reserve component training site, covering 136,000 acres (550 km2), allowing up to battalion-level maneuver training, Gunnery Table 8-12, field artillery firing points and a wide range of support facilities. This is the normal Annual Training location for National Guard and Reserve units located in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. However, units from across the country use its assets to support a variety of missions. The 2nd Battalion, 114th Field Artillery conducts its gunnery training and has the bulk of its combat equipment stored in the Mobilization and Annual Training Equipment Site (MATES) located there.
William Carey University is a private Christian liberal arts college in Mississippi, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The main campus is in Hattiesburg, and a second campus is in the Tradition community near Gulfport and Biloxi.
Hurricane Katrina's winds and storm surge reached the Mississippi coastline on the morning of August 29, 2005. beginning a two-day path of destruction through central Mississippi; by 10 a.m. CDT on August 29, 2005, the eye of Katrina began traveling up the entire state, only slowing from hurricane-force winds at Meridian near 7 p.m. and entering Tennessee as a tropical storm. Many coastal towns of Mississippi had already been obliterated, in a single night. Hurricane-force winds reached coastal Mississippi by 2 a.m. and lasted over 17 hours, spawning 11 tornadoes and a 28-foot storm surge flooding 6–12 miles (10–19 km) inland. Many, unable to evacuate, survived by climbing to attics or rooftops, or swimming to higher buildings and trees. The worst property damage from Katrina occurred in coastal Mississippi, where all towns flooded over 90% in hours, and waves destroyed many historic buildings, with others gutted to the 3rd story. Afterward, 238 people died in Mississippi, and all counties in Mississippi were declared disaster areas, 49 for full federal assistance. Regulations were changed later for emergency centers and casinos. The emergency command centers were moved higher because all 3 coastal centers flooded at 30 ft (9 m) above sea level. Casinos were allowed on land rather than limited to floating casino barges as in 2005.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, Coastal Mississippi, or simply The Coast, is the area of southern Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound along the Gulf of Mexico.
Ship Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. Hurricane Camille split the island into two separate islands in 1969. In early 2019, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the first stage of a project rejoining the two islands and recreating one Ship Island. Ship Island is the site of Fort Massachusetts, as a Third System fortification. Part of the island is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is a public community college with its main campus in Perkinston, Mississippi. It was founded as Harrison County Agricultural High School in 1912. MGCCC has three campuses and six centers: The main campus in Perkinston; the Jackson County Campus is in Gautier; the Harrison County Campus is in Gulfport; with the George County Center in Lucedale; the West Harrison County Center in Long Beach; the Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Center in Gulfport; the Keesler Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi; the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport; and the Bryant Center at Tradition in Harrison County.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home refers to one of two facilities, one in Gulfport, Mississippi, the other in Washington, D.C., that house veterans and active duty members of the United States Armed Forces.
Harrison Central High School is a 6A public high school located near Lyman, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020–21 school year, it has a student body of 1,622 students and 144 faculty. The principal is Kelly Fuller.
The Island View Casino is a casino and hotel located in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Technical Division, Air Training Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was assigned to the Air Training Command, stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It was inactivated on 14 November 1949.
Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center is a United States Air Force training center, located at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Mississippi. It is located 5 miles (8.0 km) north-northeast of Gulfport, Mississippi.
Naval Construction Battalion Center is a 1,100-acre (450 ha) U.S. Navy industrial complex located in Gulfport, Mississippi. It serves as home base for the Atlantic Fleet Seabees, which are the Navy's construction battalions.
