‘There were people laying everywhere’: The Iraqi Scud missile attack that killed 13 Pa. soldiers 30 years ago
Updated Feb 25, 2021;
The mission was to evict Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator who had invaded Kuwait.
Operation Desert Shield began in August 1990 when the United States participated in the defense of Saudi Arabia in case of an attack by Iraq.
Hussein had been issued an ultimatum - get out of Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991, or be attacked.
Bombs pummeled Iraq’s military targets.
In Pennsylvania, we watched as our soldiers went off to war.
Then on Feb. 25, 1991, at 8:30 p.m. an Iraqi Scud missile attack on a barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 13 Pennsylvania soldiers - members of the U.S. Army Reserve 14th Quartermaster Detachment - a water purification unit - stationed in Greensburg. That unit had been in Saudi Arabia only six days. In all, 28 reservists were killed in that attack.