Page 131 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2023

While Ingalls played a large role in the city’s contributions to WWII, it is not the only business that helped. The Pascagoula Decoy Company switched from making wooden duck decoys to paddles, oars, tool handles, and more. The city produced uniforms for soldiers all over the world. Local farmers and fishermen produced agriculture to feed locals and the country.
Lasting impacts in Pascagoula include infrastructure and buildings. Gas, water, sewer, telephone, and electric lines that are still in use today were built into the streets during the building boom. Schools still used today were built during this time. One of the
most prominent long-lasting additions is the deep-water channel from the Pascagoula River to Horn and Petit Bois islands. It originally had a depth of 30 feet, but today it is retained at 42 feet. This channel connects the Port of Pascagoula and Ingalls Shipbuilding to the rest of the world.
Like I mentioned earlier, Pascagoula isn’t the only city that contributed to war time efforts. It’s well-known that the Gulf Coast has a large military presence, much of which was born from WWII. In 1941, the city of Biloxi invited the U.S. Army Corps to develop a training base to help
in WWII, including an airport, a technical training school, and more. Thus, Keesler Air Force Base was born. At its peak, it was the largest air base in the world. Gulfport housed an airfield, and a paper mill in Moss Point helped to create paper for campaigns and aided in the supply of pulpwood for the nation.
This is just a small portion of everything the Gulf Coast gave to
war efforts, but it’s obvious to see that WWII has a lasting legacy in our cities.
Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Keesler Air Force Base.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net October 2023 | 131