How to resolve AdBlock issue? Local Gulf War veteran marched in National Memorial Day Parade
- Details
- Staff Reports | Gwinnett Citizen
Parade highlighted 25th anniversary
Lawrenceville – Twenty-five years ago, more than 600,000 service members took part in Operation Desert Storm, at the time the largest deployment of U.S. Armed Forces since Vietnam. John Bensley then a Specialist, E-4 from Lamont, OK, was one of those who left friends and family behind to serve our nation and secure a victory for freedom.
On May 30, Bensley marched among more than 500 Gulf War veterans in the American Veterans Center’s National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC.
Bensley and other veterans followed part of the same route service members returning from the Middle East marched 25 years ago. Like their comrades of the past, Bensley was met with the cheers of hundreds of thousands of patriotic Americans. By honoring Gulf War veterans alongside veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and our most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the parade will cement Operation Desert Storm as one of our nation’s key battles for freedom.
In 2014, Congress passed legislation and President Barack Obama signed a law approving construction of the National Desert Storm War Memorial in Washington, DC. Since that day, the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association has been working to build the monument and aims to raise the millions of dollars needed to support that mission.
To learn more about the Desert Storm War Memorial Association and its participation in the Memorial Day Parade, contact Fred Wellman, Public Relations Chair, NDSWM Board of Directors at 202-957-2688 or fred.wellman@ndswm.org. To learn more about the American Veterans Center’s National Memorial Day Parade, visit www.americanveteranscenter.org/avc-events/parade/.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL DESERT STORM WAR MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION: The National Desert Storm War Memorial Association is a 501(c)3 organization with the sole mission of constructing a Desert Storm War Memorial in Washington, D.C. www.ndswm.org.