{"id":178818,"date":"2026-03-05T04:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/178818\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T04:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:27:07","slug":"hillsborough-county-marks-35th-anniversary-of-gulf-war-as-new-conflict-begins-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/178818\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough County marks 35th anniversary of Gulf War as new conflict begins in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAMPA, Fla. – Veterans<\/a> and community members will gather on Friday at Veterans Memorial Park<\/a> to mark the 35th anniversary of the end of the Persian Gulf War, honoring those who served during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.<\/p>\n

The ceremony comes at a sobering moment, as the United States is again involved in conflict in the Middle East and some service members who were scheduled to attend the event have since deployed.<\/p>\n

READ: Decorated Gulf War veteran inspiring next generation of leaders: ‘It’s priceless’<\/a><\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

The commemoration will take place at the Veterans Memorial Park amphitheater in Hillsborough County. Organizers said several seats that were meant for active-duty service members will remain empty, because those troops have been deployed overseas.<\/p>\n

Veterans said the timing adds emotional weight to the anniversary.<\/p>\n

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“We can’t commemorate this war without acknowledging that there’s another war commencing in the Middle East,” said Retired U.S. Navy Supply Corps Rear Adm. Sean Crean, noting that several U.S. service members have already been lost in the conflict.<\/p>\n

MORE: Tampa mom shares journey caring for injured veteran son, local help available to avoid caregiving burnout<\/a><\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Crean\u00a0remembers being activated shortly after marrying his wife in August 1990. Just three months after their wedding, his Navy Reserve unit in Bangor, Maine became the first deployed as coalition forces prepared to push Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.<\/p>\n

What was initially expected to be a 90-day deployment\u00a0turned into more than a year overseas for Crean, who served in Naples, Italy, and Turkey as Operation Desert Shield escalated into Operation Desert Storm. At the time, about 500,000 coalition troops\u00a0were assembled to confront what was then considered the world\u2019s third-largest army.<\/p>\n

Crean\u2019s role focused on monitoring cargo and oil tankers to ensure supplies reached coalition forces.<\/p>\n

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Big picture view:<\/p>\n

The ceremony will also recognize veterans from each military branch who served during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Organizers with the Air and Space Forces Association said the event will include awards presented to six veterans representing the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Special Operations.<\/p>\n

READ: Air Force veteran left in constant pain after lung cancer diagnosis gets life back through trial at Moffitt<\/a><\/p>\n

Family members of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander who led coalition forces to victory and directed operations from U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, are also expected to attend. Schwarzkopf died locally in 2012.<\/p>\n

Veterans said holding the event at Veterans Memorial Park is a fitting place to pause and recognize those who served.<\/p>\n

“We need to respectfully pay attention to those folks that fought Desert Shield and Desert Storm,” retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Muhlberger said.<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The Persian Gulf War 35th anniversary commemoration begins at 10 a.m. on Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Hillsborough County. The event is open to the public. Click here for details<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story comes from interviews conducted by FOX 13 with veterans and event organizers ahead of the Hillsborough County Persian Gulf War 35th anniversary commemoration at Veterans Memorial Park.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>Veterans<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – Veterans and community members will gather on Friday at Veterans Memorial Park to mark the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,2583,115,135,137,136,628,3393],"class_list":{"0":"post-178818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-hillsborough","10":"tag-military","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-headlines","14":"tag-tampa-news","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-veterans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}