We’re not the only ones celebrating a big birthday this year. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, the original GI Bill, turns 75 this year. Passed by the United States Congress in 1944, the bill extended educational, health care, and housing benefits to veterans of World War II to help them adjust to civilian life. The Veterans Administration loan guarantee program was one of those benefits. When brave servicemen and women returned to the US and decided to put down roots in Augusta, Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate Company was here to help them navigate the process. Back in the 1940s, VA loans were capped at $2,000. Many of our returning vets purchased modest homes in King Woods, one of Blanchard and Calhoun’s earliest residential developments. These days, the maximum loan tops $484,000, and our veterans are buying everywhere … from cozy cottages in King Woods to elegant estates in Evans. Some folks say Blanchard and Calhoun provided the very first VA loan in Augusta. The proof has been lost to history, and that’s okay by us. We’re more excited about what we’re doing for our veterans today in what has become the nation’s fourth largest VA loan market. Nearly half of the loans our company provides through Augusta Mortgage, Inc., are to veterans of the United States Armed Forces – our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen. Can we get a hooyah?!