WASHINGTON (AP) – Over 30 years after a U.S.-led international military coalition expelled occupying Iraqi troops from Kuwait, planners have broken ground on the long-simmering plans for a Gulf War memorial.
Hundreds gathered Thursday morning for a ground-breaking ceremony at the corner of Constitution and 23rd streets, where the memorial will be located. Organizers have pushed to create the memorial for years, after the concept was approved by Congress in 2014.
“We’re here because we all agree that honoring these American warriors is a worthy cause,” said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who co-authored the legislation authorizing the memorial’s construction. He called the conflict “an important moment in our nation’s tradition of fighting tyranny.”
Scott Stump, CEO of the memorial association, recalled years of “toil, struggle pain, heartache, ups and downs,” with fundraising challenges and multiple design revisions.
“We were told that there weren’t enough organizations that were interested in our message,” Stump said. When completed, Stump said he expects the memorial to attract millions of visitors to a prime location near both the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial.