Monday, September 19, 2011

Gulfport, MS and the lovely ladies of The Armed Forces Retirement Home

Friday dawned early and I drove down to Gulfport, MS to interview the ladies at The Armed Forces Retirement Home.  The weather was fantastic.  Blue skies and not to humid.  When I walked into the building, the ladies were waiting in the lobby.  How lovely.  I went to the security desk to become official and in we went to a room to begin the interviews.

I am so amazed by these ladies.  Four of them were veterans from the WW2 era and the fifth had joined the Army in 1954 and had a full 20+ year career.  Did you know that in the 1940's if you were a woman, you had to be 20 to join the service?  I had no idea.  It was wonderful to hear stories of their time in service in addition to being a military spouse. We spent about an hour and a half talking.  I can't wait to transcribe the interviews and share their stories.

I also had a chance to see some of the common areas of the facility.  It is beautiful.  So open and clean.  There are rooms for all kinds of activities and the administrative staff are helpful and enthusiastic.  If this is retirement living, I'm there.

So a big Thank You to the ladies I interviewed.  I believe that I will be back in the future to talk again them and to others about being women veterans.  Another book idea.

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