Happy Holidays from Saudi Arabia

comprising the boarding force. After forming in late October, the special maritime force practiced boarding operations throughout November.

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In late December, the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade’s boarding force conducted its first maritime interdiction, the most complicated interdiction undertaken during the crisis. The Iraqi vessel Ibn Khaldoon was known as the “Peace Ship” and was intended as direct challenge to the UN embargo. It sailed from Tripoli, Libya, with female peace activists, children, and journalists from a variety of countries on board, and the vessel’s cargo was listed as milk and medicine. In accordance with the UN embargo, the Ibn Khaldoon was interdicted on 26 December. The Marines and sailors of the boarding force subdued the ship’s crew with minimal force; one Swedish peace activist who suffered a heart attack during the boarding was saved by the Trenton’s medical personnel. The swift, professional interdiction denied Iraq a propaganda victory. The final Marine boarding operation of Desert Shield came on 30 December when the brigade’s boarding force took an Iraqi tanker, the Ain Zallah, again with minimal force.

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The president’s 8 November announcement that American forces in the Persian Gulf would be reinforced in anticipation of liberating Kuwait led to a series of visits by senior civilian and military leadership throughout the month. These culminated in the Thanksgiving visit of President Bush and his wife, First Lady Barbara P. Bush, accompanied by several senators and congressmen as well as Army General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On 22 November the president and his wife enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with the Marines, and the president gave a speech warning Iraq again that it must withdraw from Kuwait. On 23 November the presidential couple visited with Marines and sailors on board the USS Nassau.

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Marines celebrated the Marine Corps birthday on 10 November with cake and food; the customary toasts were given using nonalcoholic beverages. Many Marines later recalled this birthday celebration in a war zone as one of the most memorable of their careers. Thanksgiving was celebrated in a similar manner, although the presidential visit dominated the holiday. Christmas was very sparse as preparations for the upcoming offensive kept all the Marines in the Gulf occupied, and Christmas religious observances were muted in deference to Saudi sensibilities. Despite these conditions, Marines were showered with packages from the Red Cross as well as myriad parcels from home addressed to “any Marine.” In fact they received so many of these packages that carrying them was difficult.

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Officers and noncommissioned officers worked hard to maintain troop morale during the holidays. Captain Michael J. McCusker of Company I, 3d Battalion, 3d Marines, later described one of his own efforts:

Jay Leno performs a stand-up routine for the Marines in the desert during a holiday USO tour. The unusual environment notwithstanding, Marines remember he was quite funny.

Photo courtesy of Maj Thomas P. Simon

Photo by Sgt Jeff Wright. Defense Imagery DF-ST-92-07519 Entertainer Bob Hope performs for military personnel at the USO Christmas tour during Operation Desert Shield.

It was something to keep their minds off of being so far away and to make some sort of Christmas there in the desert, and it worked. The Marines use to give me s——t about it: “Gee, sir, this Christmas tree is so ugly that we are going to burn it.” But it gave them something to look at, and I think it did what I wanted it to do. We decorated it with engineering tape and tinsel and little Christmas ornaments that school kids made and sent to us. I took chem. [chemical] lights and hung them on the tree on Christmas Eve and made a big cross on top. It was round like a big bush. It was five or six feet tall, and the camels used to come and chew on it and we had to shoo them away. It served its purpose.

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Despite the best efforts of the officers and noncommissioned officers, however, it was inevitable that Christmas 1990 would have a melancholy tinge to it for Marines in the Gulf. Most were convinced that they would be liberating Kuwait by force soon, and this expectation of combat was never far from the troops’ minds.

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As it has since 1941, the United Service Organizations (USO) sent tours of performers to the war zone in order to entertain the troops in the Gulf during the crisis of November and December. The headliner of the tours was the venerable Bob Hope, who entertained American troops in a war zone for the final time in his storied career. Other entertainers included comedians Steve Martin and Jay Leno; all three visited with Marines both ashore and afloat. In 1990, CBS ran a popular sitcom called Major Dad that centered on the life of a Marine major and his family. The star of the series, Gerald McRaney (and his wife, actress Delta Burke), also visited Marines in the Persian Gulf on USO tours, even as his character on the series lamented not being assigned to the Gulf.

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Brigadier General Thomas Draude recalled Bob Hope’s visit with the Marines on 26 December:

Bob and Delores Hope arrived to entertain the Marines of the First Marine Division. I was assigned as the escort officer and was amazed how this couple hopped on and off our helicopter at the various stops. His daughter was concerned about tiring him, so the last show, to one of the assault elements going into Kuwait, was cancelled by her. I asked if we could at least let him fly over so the Marines would see his helicopter—she agreed. I then asked if we could land so he could see what their living conditions were— she reluctantly agreed. I then asked if she would allow him to take a jeep ride to see where the troops were waiting—she was not pleased with me at this point, but gave her

OK. When Bob Hope saw the stage and all