With a mixture of solemnity, gratitude and celebration, Coastal Georgians will mark Veterans Day with observances across the region, including pilgrimages to gravesites and parades and other ceremonies in Savannah, St. Simons, Kingsland, Hinesville, and Richmond Hill.
A replica of an F4 Corsair, designed as a carrier-based fighter-bomber for the US Navy and Marine Corps in WWII. The Corsair flew over 64,000 missions during the war, almost half of the total sorties flown in the Pacific theater.
For some local military veterans, commemorations started several weeks ago. They were among members of a local club who gathered at a field in western Chatham County to fly remote-controlled vintage military aircraft models while raising money for the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, reports Justin Taylor, The Current’s visual journalist.
The field is named in honor of Anthony Davis, an Army Ranger and a former club member from Hunter Army Airfield who was killed by enemy fire while serving in Iraq in 2009.
Veterans Day is, of course, commemorated across the nation. But it has particular resonance in Georgia, which is home to nearly 700,000 veterans and is projected to have the 5th largest population of veterans in the U.S. by 2040. Two years ago, military veterans comprised 10.59% of the state’s 236-member legislature.
Savannah and Coastal Georgia have the highest numbers of veterans who have served in the First Gulf War and afterward, while northeastern Georgia has the highest concentration of World War II- and Korean War-era veterans, according to Kennesaw State University’s Center for the Advancement of Military and Emergency Services (AMES) Research.
Tuesday’s commemorations are also a reminder of the men and women currently in military service.
As of September 30, 2023, about 64,100 active-duty servicemen and women and some 26,400 reservists and National Guard were based in Georgias, many of them along the coast.
The U.S. Navy Submarine Base at Kings Bay in Camden County had more than 9,000 military, civilian and contract personnel; two years later, in June 2025, Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, in Chatham and Liberty County, had 25,550.
The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.
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