Gulf Coast Military Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gulf Coast Military Academy (GCMA) was a military-style preparatory school in Gulfport, Mississippi. It was founded in 1912. Source Nice Story about Gulf Coast Military Academy, The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS),February 27, 2005 by Pam Firmin (also in cadetweb.net). There were two GCMA campuses: east and west. The west campus housed the "senior" school, and the east campus housed the "junior" school. In 1951 the senior school ceased operation, and the west campus grounds were purchased by the federal government. Source Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program - Project 95-10092, Training To Fight: Training and Education During the Cold War, By David F. Winkler July 1997, page 153. The junior school was in operation on the east campus grounds until 1973, when the facility was sold to William Carey University, and it became their Gulfport campus. Before Hurricane Katrina, most of the east campus GCMA buildings were still in use by William Carey University. The east campus was almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and it is for sale.

Before Hurricane Katrina, former GCMA students would often come visit the school and walk through the buildings. This was freely permitted by the staff of William Carey University.

The original GCMA west campus grounds became US Air Force property from 1951 to 1972 and became known as Annex 3 of Keesler AFB located in nearby Biloxi, MS. The former Academy (west campus) facilities were initially used as the Technical Training Headquarters for Keesler AFB. The west campus facilities were then used for technical training from 1958 until 1972. Officer training was conducted in electronics for communications, ground electronics (radar), and weapons controller assignments. Many of the former west campus academy buildings were used for classrooms, administration, and storage. The large oak trees from the Academy days remained. Air Force buses drove to and from Keesler AFB on a daily schedule using US Highway 90 along the gulf coast. In 1972 the former west campus Academy grounds and facilities were transferred to the US Navy. Source Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program - Project 95-10092, Training To Fight: Training and Education During the Cold War, By David F. Winkler July 1997, page 153.

The Navy Home was moved to the original Gulf Coast Military Academy (GCMA) west campus grounds. Later the Navy Home was redesignated as part of the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH). In 2005, the west campus facilities were damaged by Hurricane Katrina and all the residents of the home were moved to other locations. The AFRH facilities may be demolished due to residual hurricane water damage to the infrastructure and resulting mold in the buildings. Future plans are pending, but rebuilding the AFRH on the Gulf Coast may be considered risky. Source Sep 2006 article by the Gulf Coast News concerning future plans for the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

Personal thoughts about GCMA, by Jim Phelps (former GCMA student) of New Orleans, Louisiana:

I was a student at GCMA for the following years:

• 4th grade (1967/1968)
• 5th grade (1968/1969)
• 2nd half of 5th grade again (I started 6th grade at a regular public school, but I had so many behavior problems that my parents sent me back to GCMA, and they put me back into the 5th grade) (1970)
• 6th grade (1970/1971)

That was a total of 3-1/2 years of my life.

What was life like for the student at GCMA? It was like being in military Boot Camp. The only problem was, we were all kids, being kicked around as if we were adults. There were kids there as young as 1st grade when I was there! (For the youngest kids, there was a housemother.) And it didn't stop after eight weeks, like the regular boot camp; it went on and on, for the entire school year! (Can you imagine sending first graders to a nine-month boot camp?)

GCMA’s motto was, “Give us the boy, we return the man”. I think that could be changed to “Give us the boy, we return the emotionally-crippled man”.

There was a kid there named Shaft Rodney Turner. He had severe emotional problems. (Why his parents put him in GCMA I’ll never know. Probably some “expert” told them to; that’s why my parents put me in GCMA.) The other kids picked on him continually, and always made fun of him. I’ve often wondered where he is today, or if he is even still alive. I’m sure he was much worse off emotionally after having attended, and lived at, GCMA.

One time, in our barracks, our company commander (the adult who watched us and who lived in the barracks apartment) said that some kid had broken a rule, and he was determined to find out which kid it was. He promised that if they would admit to it, their punishment would be mild. The guilty kid admitted to it, upon which the company commander said, “If you can lie, I can too”, and then he proceeded to punish the kid in the normal way (not in the promised “mild” way). What a great lesson for our teacher to teach us! (that it's ok to lie)

During some of the time I was at GCMA, our company commander would wake us up by putting on "Good Morning" by the Beatles, cranking it up all the way, and then bursting out of his apartment door. He would go down the line of beds and tell us to get up. I still remember it almost like it was yesterday.

We lived four in a room, and we were required to post a list of whose turn it was on each day to clean up the room. In my room, we had four lists, and we would put up a different list every day. The purpose? There was one kid who we wanted to pick on, and each day we would post the list which had his name listed as the cleaner for that day, so that he would get blamed if the room wasn’t cleaned. I’m sad to say, that was my doing; John Place, if you ever read this, please accept my apologies for doing that to you.

I would catch the Greyhound bus from home to school, after being home for the weekend. I would cry at the bus station, begging my dad to not send me back to GCMA. In fact, one time, when the bus was about to stop in front of GCMA, I begged the driver to not stop, but rather to take me on to Biloxi (just to give a short reprieve from having to return to GCMA). I even offered him my radio if he would bypass GCMA. He didn’t take me up on it.

At GCMA, the mean kids picked on the weak kids, and not much was done about it. I was generally one of the weak kids. One of the ways that the mean kids would pick on the weak kids was that when the group was marching in formation, a mean kid would kick the feet of a weak kid as they would march, one kick every step. There wasn’t much the weak kid could do about it, because the teacher couldn’t see it, unless the weak kid was prepared to challenge the mean kid.

As a result of my experiences at GCMA, I was full of anxiety and afraid of people for many, many years.

It took me many long years to overcome the damage done by GCMA. Thank you, Jesus, for always unconditionally accepting me, and for giving me so many chances to come out of the pit. I am free today because of Jesus Christ.

Several years ago I went to visit the former GCMA, now William Carey University. As I sat in front of the cafeteria (now the Student Union), I thought, "You're gone, and I'm still here". It felt good to have outlasted such a horrible outfit as GCMA.

A few names I remember from my time at GCMA: Mario Martinez, Verne Streckfus, John Place, Shaft Rodney Turner. (That’s all I remember.)

If you are a former GCMA student, and you’d like to share your thoughts, please send me an email at jim.phelps@juno.com