One Marine stubbornly fought for 35 years to honor America’s fallen in Operation Desert Storm with a memorial in the nation’s capital.
Over half a million Americans deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991, a conflict that claimed 148 U.S. lives in combat, according to CBS News. Yet the war that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein faded from the national memory in the years after.
Scott Stump, a former Marine Lance Corporal who served in Desert Storm, decided that erasure was unacceptable. He recalled launched a campaign to place a memorial on the National Mall with no political connections and no Washington experience. Stump said some lawmakers dismissed him outright.
“Well, there weren’t enough people that died, you know, for there to be a memorial,” was one response he recalled receiving. (RELATED: ‘Like An Award Show’: Democrat Senate Candidate Mocks Trump Honoring Veterans)
The dismissal extended beyond Congress. Stump sought support from Gen. Colin Powell, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during Desert Storm, CBS News reported. An aide reportedly relayed Powell’s response via email that Desert storm “a short operation and not an extended war and he would be surprised that Congress would pass this and allot a place on the Mall for such a memorial.”
You’ve been waiting.
Get the details here: https://t.co/w1ooLUivn4 pic.twitter.com/vnPeEvsuWj— Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial (@honortheservice) January 13, 2026
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson disagreed. He told CBS News that Powell was “obviously wrong” and called each of the 148 fallen service members “unique and precious as a snowflake.”
The Desert Storm Memorial received a site near the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial and is set to open in October, according to CBS News. However, Stump said getting the location took some work.
The bureaucratic resistance stretched the site selection to 39 months, more than double the standard 18-month timeline, he told CBS News. He claimed officials said, “You don’t belong there. This isn’t important enough to be located in that spot.”
Stump argued the location was key. “A visitor is going to say it must be important, otherwise it wouldn’t be right here by the Lincoln Memorial or the Vietnam Memorial,” he said.
Stump ultimately prevailed. Former President Obama signed off on its building in 2014 and President Trump signed legislation for its construction near the Mall in 2017, according to Stars and Stripes.
The memorial is now rising at the corner of 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW, the National Desert Storm Memorial Association said, according to WJLA. Foundations are set, stone walls stand in position and special features have been built in, the Interior Department said.
The $42 million project was raised by Stump, CBS News reported. Kuwait, the nation American troops liberated, donated more than half the total cost. The veteran was asked whether it bothered him to need Kuwait’s support. “It doesn’t bother me from the fact that it’s making it happen and we’re getting it done,” he answered. “But it’s not right.”
“They’re going to look at that a hundred years from now and say, ‘Wow, if they could come together and do the right thing, maybe we can, too,’” Stump said.