Local Gulf War veteran to march in National Memorial Day Parade

Kandy Sue Crawford of Belleville will be among Gulf War veterans marching on Monday in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.
During Desert Storm she was a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, serving with MAG-14 as an aviation ground support equipment mechanic. They were stationed near the port in Al Jabal.
“The place I was in Desert Storm was better known as ‘The Scud Bowl,’” she said.
She served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1997 and was honorably discharged as a sergeant. She went on to work for Boeing and Rolls Royce after the military, able to obtain those positions because of the training in the corps.
Twenty-five years ago, more than 600,000 service members took part in Operation Desert Storm, at the time the largest deployment of U.S. Armed Forces since Vietnam.
Crawford, then a corporal from Garden City, was one of those who left friends and family behind to serve the nation and secure a victory for freedom.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm and honor those who served and sacrificed, the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association and American Veterans Center have invited more than 500 Gulf War veterans to reunite at the National Memorial Day Parade.
The veterans are participating thanks to the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association and its mission to honor the legacy of the Gulf War through building a monument in the nation’s capital to the 383 service members who fell during the war and honoring those who served in this pivotal moment in world history.
“While foremost our mission at the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association is to build a monument to our fallen brothers and sisters, we are also committed to honoring the many hundreds of thousands of men and women who left homes, jobs, and families to stand up for American’s values,” said Scott Stump, founder, president and CEO of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association.
“We are so glad that veterans like Kandy Sue Crawford, are marching with us to teach Americans about the service and sacrifice made by all veterans of Operation Desert Storm.”
Crawford and other veterans will follow part of the same route service members returning from the Middle East marched 25 years ago. Like their comrades of the past, Crawford is expected to be met with the cheers of hundreds of thousands of patriotic Americans. The parade will honor Gulf War veterans alongside veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2014, Congress passed legislation and President Barack Obama signed a law approving construction of the National Desert Storm War Memorial in Washington, D. Since that day, the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association has been working to build the monument and aims to raise the millions of dollars needed to support that mission.