35th Anniversary of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

The Waterman-Twining AFA Chapter held a Heritage Event to commemorate the 35^th Anniversary of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm on Friday, March 6, 2026, at the Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park, at 10:00 AM. The event was cohosted with the Veterans Council of Hillsborough County with the goal to honor five Desert Shield/Desert Storm veterans: one each from the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Special Operations.

Over 150 veterans attended and the event was covered by 5 local TV stations. Link to WFLA coverage: https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/gulf-war-commemoration-held-to-honor-35th-anniversary-of-operations-desert-shield-desert-storm

VIPs in attendance were staff members from three local Florida Congressional Districts, a Hillsborough County Commissioner, who oversee both VCHC and the Veterans Memorial Park, a City of Tampa Councilman, the 13^th Judicial Circuit Judge for Hillsborough County, the Director of the Hillsborough County’s Veteran Community Services and Veterans Memorial Park, and most honored, the widow and daughter of the late, great General “Stormin’’ Norman Schwarzkopf. The Keynote speaker was Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (Ret).

Left to right; Joe Muhlberger, Dave Deptula, Bill Yucuis, Commissioner Cepeda

Lt. Gen. (ret) Dave Deptula

Brenda and Jessica Schwarzkopf with Bill Yucuis

Eagle and Flag Award

The award given to the veterans was an Eagle with Flag statue with an inscription on glass which said “35^th Anniversary Desert Shield/Desert Storm” and included the AFA logo and identified the Waterman-Twining AFA Chapter and Veterans Council of Hillsborough County. These awards were presented by a representative from each service. In addition to the five veterans, we presented an Eagle and Flag to Lt. Gen Dave Deptula.

Another goal was to involve MacDill AFB and the local community. We coordinated with the 6ARW from MacDill, who agreed to provide the presenter for the Air Force veteran award, the Wing Color Guard, a Base Chaplain, a singer for the National Anthem, and volunteers to help setup on the event date. In addition, we coordinated with US CENTCOM and SOCOM, both from MacDill AFB, to provide a presenter for the Navy veteran and Special Operations veteran, respectively. The Marine award was presented by a retired Marine who was Representative Vern Buchanan’s Veteran and Military Liaison. Finally, we had General Schwartzkopf’s daughter present the award to the Army veteran. We also coordinated with the University of South Florida’s AFROTC unit to provide cadet volunteers from the Arnold Air Society, who are all Chapter members. In addition, VCHC provided volunteers, plus they coordinated with a local American Legion Post to provide refreshments after the event

Unfortunately, the event was scheduled just a few days after the beginning of Operation Epic Fury in Iran, so on March 4, for security reasons, the MacDill assets were cancelled, except for the National Anthem singer, who is civilian, and the airmen volunteers, who could help, but not be in uniform. We were able to scramble and obtain the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Honor Guard to provide the colors and find other presenters from the different services. By all accounts, the event was very well received, and many veterans thank us for this recognition.

Link to Event Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KPlNV2KJ8QcArMEl0zP3eFm1-WM7CDeS?usp=drive_link