Desert Storm: 30 Years Later – Grout Museum Exhibit Open Now

The Grout Museum District’s newest exhibit "Desert Storm: 30 Years Later" marks the 30th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. More than 3,000 Iowans were part of a U.S.–led coalition force that expelled Saddam Hussein’s invading Iraqi forces from the sovereign nation of Kuwait. A total of six Iowans were killed in the war.

The exhibit will include artifacts and first-person oral histories from Iowans who served in the conflict, as well as local news coverage from that time. According to the Grout Museum website, the war was one of the first combat actions since the Civil War conducted by an all-volunteer force. Citizens were pulled from their daily lives to participate in deadly conflict halfway across the world, serving in National Guard and Reserve units, in addition to active-duty personnel from all branches of service.

A Waterloo-based Marine Reserve artillery unit (Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion 14th Marines) was among those mobilized. Made up of 135 Marines, it was the first U.S. field artillery unit to enter Kuwait and fire on enemy targets when the ground phase of the war began. They received a large community send off and were welcomed home in a large celebration at the Waterloo Regional Airport in June 1991. They brought back with them a captured Iraqi howitzer which sits at the AMVETS post in Evansdale. (see photo below)

Yellow ribbons are available to purchase for a loved one in your life who served in Desert Storm, click here, ribbons will be displayed for the duration of the exhibit.

Gulf War Veterans will receive free admission to the Grout Museum for the duration of the exhibit, sponsored by Humanities Iowa, American Legion of Iowa and Townsquare Media, including this radio station.

For further details, call 319-234-6357 or click here.