Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial opens on the National Mall

By Delphine Brooks

WASHINGTON — The newest memorial on the National Mall is now open around the clock. The Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial was dedicated Saturday and formally added to the National Park System, according to the Interior Department.

The memorial is near the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It honors the Americans who served in the 1990-91 operations to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi forces and remembers those who died. “Here on the National Mall, their service will be remembered with the gratitude and respect it deserves, and their legacy will endure for generations,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the department’s announcement. Mr. Burgum gave the keynote address, Stars and Stripes reported.

Speaking for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby called the 1991 campaign a model of “military power employed in clear advancement of defined political objectives with willing and capable partners,” according to his remarks as delivered. He tied that lesson to President Trump’s approach of “peace through strength.” He added that the memorial “will be a personal reminder” to him, since he would “probably be able to see it from my office in the Pentagon.”

An oasis on Constitution Avenue

The quarter-acre plaza sits at the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street NW, Stars and Stripes reported. According to the Interior Department, the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association designed it to evoke a desert oasis, with curving walls like sand dunes surrounding a shaded grove with trees and water.

A sculpted relief wall depicts the conflict and the liberation of Kuwait. A feature called the Unity Shield carries symbols of the coalition nations, the department said. Stars and Stripes described a 28-foot bronze fountain shaped like a shield, along with steel sculptures of an American bald eagle and a Kuwaiti falcon representing the alliance between the two countries.

“They designed it in a way where a person can come and have an experiential visit and really feel like they’re in a desert oasis,” Scott Stump, who leads the memorial association, told NBC4 Washington. Mr. Stump was a college senior in the Marine Corps Reserve when he was called to active duty. He spent 16 years on the project, which he said required a 24-step approval process, legislation and fundraising.

Privately funded

Congress authorized the memorial in 2014. It cost $40 million and was privately funded, according to Stars and Stripes. Former Rep. Phil Roe, a Tennessee Republican, introduced the House bill that authorized it and spoke at Saturday’s ceremony. NBC4 reported that no public money was used, and that donations came from Veterans of Foreign Wars posts around the country and from the state of Kuwait.

The project honors the nearly 700,000 U.S. service members who served in the Gulf War, Stars and Stripes reported. Representatives of the Trump administration and the Kuwaiti government attended the hourlong ceremony. It included the U.S. and Kuwaiti national anthems and the first raising of the American flag over the site. Organizers set up a screen across the street for overflow crowds.

“I wanted to come here for closure, to see an end to this long journey,” Michael Muilenburg, a 66-year-old Army veteran who drove eight hours from South Carolina, told the newspaper. Steven Mullikin, a Navy veteran from Ohio, said Gulf War veterans had received less recognition than those who served after Sept. 11. “This memorial is a positive step to change that,” he said.

Visiting

The National Park Service now maintains the memorial. “We will preserve this memorial as a place where veterans, their families and visitors from around the world can reflect on the service, sacrifice and unity that defined this chapter in our nation’s history,” said Jessica Bowron, the agency’s comptroller, who is exercising the delegated authority of the director.

The memorial is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information on its history, design and directions is posted at nps.gov/dsds.

The National Park Service and the memorial association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.