D.C. Retirement Home Welcomes Evacuated Veterans

Hurricane Katrina decimated the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss., leaving 416 veterans homeless. They were evacuated, and by Sept. 1 they were checking in to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. Some 250 traveled by bus while those who were severely disabled came by air. Two of them drove. The Washington home has about 1,000 permanent residents, with vacancies for another 700, so the 416 from Gulfport will not displace other veterans and military retirees with reservations, said officials. The new residents from Gulfport are expected to stay for several months. The Armed Forces Retirement Home was formed by Congress as an independent federal agency by combining the U.S. Naval Home in Gulfport and the U.S. Soldiers and Airmen’s Home in Washington. The Home guarantees its retired enlisted men and women a caring and secure home in their old age.