September 19, 2004
Albany- Ninety percent of the buildings at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida suffered significant damage at an estimated cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Some military aircraft were damaged as well. No one was injured.
Sailors are already cleaning up some areas, but it will be weeks before the Pensacola Naval Air Station will be back to normal.
About 1,300 Marines left the NAS to ride out Hurricane Ivan at MCLB. Those Marines are expected to leave some time this week.
The Florida Marines say so far they've enjoyed the hospitality they've been shown in South Georgia.
The men and women had a chance to leave the Albany Marine Base this weekend and many of them spent their free time shopping at Albany Mall.
"We're just finding things to entertain ourselves with cards and everything. Some Marines have board games, others have little race cars going around. It's all fun though," says PFC Joseph Perez.
"They kind of bent over backwards for us and made it a somewhat of a comfortable stay," adds PFC Grant Moran.
The Marines only got to pack the necessities when they were evacuated, so they wore their uniforms as they toured Albany this weekend.
Posted at 5:40 PM by elaine.armstrong@walb.com
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