Gulf War

Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and within weeks the crisis reached Billerica's town meeting. At a special town meeting on August 28, 1990 the Police Department color guard presented the flag "in honor of our military people who are now serving in the Middle East crisis," and the meeting stood for the Pledge of Allegiance; Olga S. Symes announced that the activity day for retired military personnel planned for September 7 at Fort Devens had been cancelled "due to the military crisis in the Middle East." The air war of Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991 and the ground war ended on February 28. The Billerica Memorial High School yearbook of 1991 called it "our first experience with war" and, for many students, "the first experience of seeing a loved one sent into combat," and closed: "Desert Storm may not be able to claim members of the Class of '91 as casualties of war heroes, but it has given us a warning that even in the 1990s, war, sinister in any age, still exists."

Veterans of the war later spoke at the veterans' office's annual Flag Day ceremonies on the Common: a Desert Storm veteran in 2008 and, in 2010, an officer who had served in combat in both Desert Shield and Desert Storm and, later, in Operation Iraqi Freedom during the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The town reports and the town's memorial lists searched for this article do not record a Billerica resident killed in the Gulf War, and no square, park or memorial in Billerica is dedicated to a casualty of it.

People

• Olga S. Symes: Announced at the August 28, 1990 special town meeting the cancellation of the Fort Devens retirees' day because of the Middle East crisis.

References

1. Town report 1990, p. 96: special town meeting of August 28, 1990; color guard honors those serving in the Middle East crisis; Fort Devens retirees' day cancelled.
2. Billerica Memorial High School yearbook The Warrior 1991, p. 150: 'Line in the Sand,' the class of 1991 on the Persian Gulf War.
3. Town report FY2008, p. 335: Veterans' Services; Welcome Home bonus applications; Flag Day speaker Lou Cimaglia, a Desert Storm veteran.
4. Town report FY2010, p. 210: Veterans' Services; Flag Day speaker Major John Hodge, veteran of Desert Shield/Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
5. Billerica Public Library, Military Memorials: the town's five war memorials; none for the Gulf, Iraq or Afghanistan wars.