Persian-Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War, sometimes referred to as Operation Desert Storm, was fought in February of 1991 between Iraq and a coalition of 39 countries consisting mostly of Egypt, France, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United States. The war was mainly fought in Iraq and the oil-rich country of Kuwait.

Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein,was encouraged by a number of reasons to consider an invasion of Kuwait. His main reason was to acquire Kuwait's oil wealth and eliminate the Iraqi debt to Kuwait. The coalition of countries formed after Iraq had invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

On January 17, 1991, after many months of negotiating and pressuring Iraq to leave Kuwait, President George Bush gave the order to attack the Iraqis. For seven days the coalition bombed Iraqi military and industrial targets. In late February a massive ground assault was ordered into Kuwait and Southern Iraq. The Iraqis were quickly defeated and on February 27th, Kuwait City was liberated. The following day all coalition fighting ended. As many as 100,000 Iraqi troops died and deaths of coalition troops totaled about 370.

Here are some pictures of the different types of weapons used by the United States to fight in Desert Storm.

Pictured above is the F/A-18 Hornet one of the many
fighter planes used in the war.

Pictured above is the M-1A1 Abrams a common
tank used during the war

Shown here is the U.S.S Nimitz Aircraft Carrier. It
was just one of the carriers used in Operation Desert
Storm. The Nimitz was used to carry jets and attack
choppers.

Cyber-Visitors' Memories of this Event:



Debra Salts

I remember well the Persian-Gulf War. Some of the memories have to do with
the fact that many of my students had brothers, sisters, uncles or parents
there. I had several friends there. The one memory that still haunts me
today, and probably always will, is when I heard that the last person to be
killed over there was one of my former students. This student along with
my husband and a lot of other students went to play paint ball war one day.
I particularly remember the moment that he hit me with the paint ball in
the mouth. He laughed and laughed to have been able to hit me, a teacher,
in the mouth and get away with it! It was a wonderful moment in a great
day. Several years later, at the very end of the Persian-Gulf War, he was
the last one killed. The worst of it was that he was killed by friendly
fire. The commander had made a mistake and ordered his unit to fire on a
vehicle that was one of ours. The others survived, he didn't. I still get
chills when I think of this young man and the day we had our own "war". I
know that I am probably not expressing this well, but I would like to have
this be a memorial to him, that he may never be forgotten and know that
many still hold him dear. This is for you, Lance Fielder, from friend and
teacher, Debra Salts.

Anonymously Submitted

I was sitting in front of my TV in a rare moment of peace at my house watching the evening news. My husband was out of town and my kids were doing homework. The first picturesof the POW's from the Gulf War were coming in. Seeing the battered face of that poor guy opened a floodgate of memories for me and I was suddenly back in the ninth grade again. I did something I never do--I
wrote a letter--to my POW. I went immediately to my scrapbook and found the letter he had sent me all those years ago and mailed my letter to him on the off chance that he might still be there. I did not receive an immediate reply, but about a month later I did get a letter--from his wife.
She said that the letter had come to them from relatives who still lived in the small town. (He had been gone from there for several years.) It was the warmest letter you can ever imagine, filled with an update of how his life was going, and sincere appreciation for my memory of his
service to this country. It was unbelievable that after so many years, that whole experience would still be so vivid in my memory and that I would actually ACT on it. (That is very UNtypical of me!!!!!) Needless to say, I still have the recent letter as well. Who knows, maybe I'll actually
run in to him one day!! It's not the most exciting story, I guess, but I suppose the moral of the whole thing is that memories never really die. They just sometimes take a rest until an opportunity comes for you to revisit them. It's a great feeling. Thanks for letting me revisit this one
again!!!


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