Kuwait celebrates victory in the first war against Hussein

Stars & Stripes reports on the parade marking the 20th anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein’s bloody occupation of their country and the liberation by a coalition of nations.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people, from children to heads of state, lined a stretch of highway outside of Kuwait City for a two-hour military parade of nations from the coalition forces that in 1991 repelled Saddam Hussein’s invading army.

Tanks, troops, armored vehicles, helicopters and barrel-rolling fighters jets streaming red, green and white smoke – the national colors – passed in formation before Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and other dignitaries including Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 1991, and Spain’s King Juan Carlos.

It was a spectacle rarely seen in the world today. Saudi, Kuwaiti, French British, and other troops joined the relatively small contingent of roughly 175 Americans thundering down the road and above the grandstands.

For my battalion, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry, our second crossing into Iraq from Saudi Arabia began at about noon (local time) on February 24th, 1991 and ended several hundred miles away on Highway 1 outside of Kuwait City on February 28th at 8:30 in the morning. For what happened in the interim days, you can read Tom Clancy’s “Into the Storm” which featured the exploits of 1/41 in Desert Storm.

Category: Historical