Desert Warriors: Men and Women Who Won the Persian Gulf War

by USA Today

Book Overview

Spotlights the Americans involved in the Persian Gulf through profiles and letters, and includes brief accounts of all who died This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671748750
• ISBN13: 9780671748753
• Release Date: May 1991
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 213 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.1" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful tribute to the soldiers of the first Gulf War

Desert Warriors is quite a special book, dedicated to the men and women of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Put together by the staff of the USA Today in the days just following the war's end in early March, it provides a very personal look at some of the brave soldiers who served in the first Gulf War. The book opens with a short summary of the course of events - Chapter One is given the fitting title "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Feats." There is a chapter called "Desert Diary" made up of field reports by USA Today reporter Lawrence Jolidon; these reports focus on the human side of the war, as he described the ways soldiers endured the wait and boredom preceding the war and acted so ably and bravely once ground forces got in on the action. One chapter features special interest stories of a number of individual soldiers; several of these vignettes deal with mothers who left children behind to serve (a first in US military history), but perhaps the best-known subject is a female Army nurse photographed napping with a teddy bear in her arms (although she was every bit the soldier). The home front is the subject of one chapter, exploring not only the popular support of our soldiers but the very real economic changes brought about in the lives of some individuals as well as cities when 540,000 of our best men and women left for the Gulf.Two other chapters stand out from the crowd, however. One contains portions of letters written by soldiers to friends and family back home. These really give you a strong sense of the caliber of individuals America sent to liberate Kuwait. Taking up just over half of the book's pages is a chapter called "Those Who Died." This chapter is what really makes this book so special. Every soldier who died or who was then missing in action is listed by name, rank, hometown, and age. Rather than leave it at that, though, the editors add personal information for each individual - information on the manner of death, families left behind, words expressed by the fallen hero before or during his/her service, personal descriptions from friends and family, etc. None of these biographical additions are lengthy by any means, and some are rather short, but you do get a sense of who these people were who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country and of freedom. It is impossible to see these heroes as impersonal "numbers" or "casualty figures" after reading this book. Desert Warriors: The Men and Women Who Won the Gulf War is really a touching tribute to our brave soldiers, and I look upon this book with pride and great respect.