Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 1991, Winnipeg, Manitoba 8 Winnipeg free january 1991 the Gulf in crisis just across the Gulf crisis hits in the Homes weekend warriors pay their dues grand Forks county sheriff Heads to Gulf As Reserve called Gerald Rood free press by Gerald flood Winnipeg free press grand Forks the Gulf crisis became a grim reality for Dan Hill on at age 45 and Only 10 Days after being sworn in As sheriff of grand Forks county police Hill was expecting to watch the showdown in the Middle East on then the Telephone in his office rang and a voice ordered him to report for Active duty in five tuesday deadline Day for Iraq to pull out of Kuwait or face in in a gunners mate in the Navy my life has been turned upside thursday Hill and his wife sue started laying out dans Navy Blue uniform on the Couch in their modest but comfortable Home in a heavily Reed neighbourhood in this City of they Are stars and stripes hangs inside their weve been sitting in the Kitchen talking and crying and calling the sue tears Welling in her Dan were going to have a family meeting we have to make plans in the event of now sue Odd Cross the Border at Emerson and you slip from a province concerned about a nurses strike into a state consumed with the implications of a first the 47th smallest state in the with a population of roughly the population of it has sent More than servicemen to saudi Arabia compared to a handful from the number of North Dakotas in the Gulf equals More than half the entire Canadian the commitment of manpower has made North Dakota not just a part of country South of its made it part of another world world where Ordinary men and women Are being held to past pledges to die for their about half the North Dakotas in the Gulf Are reservists like or members of the National guard so called weekend callup of the reserves from civilian ranks along with standing forces like the army partly explains Why the Gulf crisis seems More imminent and dangerous than it does in in like the motor coach industries Plant just Over the Border in workers have disappeared from the Assembly a daily and sobering reminder of the conflict to employees left teachers Are gone from clergymen Are gone from shopkeepers from in devils three of 12 doctors Are Cavalier is missing its in every town you find someone like a school a someone you Kevin a reporter with the grand Forks Herald who has been covering the i were losing our Bonham said most reservists Are people who signed up thinking they were taking on a Par time they can earn four Days regular army pay on a weekend and their civilian jobs Are guaranteed for them when they Are away on training for weeks at a others joined to take advantage of like having their student Loans or for signing bonuses of As much As or to improve pension there who Are soldiers Bonham non Herald managing editor Tim fought said he is convinced that if Saddam Hussein does not withdraw from Kuwait by the America will be at he blamed the american not president he said while the vast majority of americans would rather not go to they dont have the patience necessary to Stop Hussein through the use of if Bush were to rely on people would become bored with the National resolve would erode and the policy would its another Case of out to attention he our attention Span is one or two seasons and maybe a couple of if its not its too Odd if War Breaks out in the it will probably enjoy Strong Short term the reason the american strategy in the Gulf appeals to millions of americans who feel still feel shamed by the defeat in a defeat that few believe was we fought in Vietnam totally Richard Skinner said from his chair in the aisle of trustworthy hardware in 1 dont think that going to happen skinners comments Are echoed everywhere in North a state that of americas million Vietnam veterans Call Luggi a counsellor with the Vietnam outreach Centre in said the massive buildup in the Gulf shows America intends to do it right this were not sneaking out in the Middle of the he were going in Broad Daylight and were going All m not Happy were involved in this mess in the but its better we do it this Way than the Way we did it in lets go total Max Max destruction in the minimum amount of time and then get out or dont Send us at non father John Cavanaugh greeted a janitor who was cleaning up the last bits of debris from a Christmas display that he had just finished taking Down in Michaels Cavanaugh said it had to be dismantled Early this year to make room for a nondenominational prayer service that organizers Are hoping will fill every seat 900 in All the service is part of statewide prayer for peace efforts that Start at noon when churches throughout North Dakota have been asked to peal their Bells for five Cavanaugh said his congregation prays every sunday for and also for parishioners stationed in the their names have been written on a scroll at the front of the it shows that out a Nock of 25 have loved ones in the the Cavanaugh helps bring the reality of the crisis Home to but there Are clearer signs of an impending weve started getting Calls from people who want to get married its the old world War two they want to have someone waiting at Gerald free press a Yngne i father John Cavanaugh keeps scroll with list in Church of those serving the persian non Cavanaugh has an unusual he served 13 years in the Navy before the vastness of the Ocean convinced there Are forces greater than he was a commander on a Cruiser when he left the he said his greatest fear is that a Gulf War will quickly become a nuclear he said although president Bush has vowed not to respond with nuclear weapons should Iraq unleash chemical he could be forced to break that its really he if it happens to our soldiers and if they Start coming Home in body bags dead of chemical there will be such an once those people Start arriving there will be a Call for the nuke them till they glow will Start to come non Gloria Biever was the first to break she was telling her support gathered around tables in a room at the civic that she had no idea where her son was stationed in saudi before he left he said make sure you write to mom and i dont know where he she i hate to be it brings Back the grief of losing my husband and now in afraid in going to lose my in so afraid to be Kathy Jones wept when she recalled How a Jerk Felt compelled to describe to her in graphic detail what happens to chemical warfare her she survived my recurring is he going to come Home like this time but talk was not Only of and it was the other things people said that seemed to shed the most Light on the mood of America on the Brink of Joan in seemed to capture the strange mix of feelings that you hear expressed i feel terrible feeling like whose Fiance is in the Gulf i dont want a War at All and i worry about what will happen if there is i even what will happen to innocent but at the same time i want that place blown up As the group filed out into the Diane who organizes the weekly passed out the last of a stack of 1991 calenders at the memories in the was printed on the non there Are 23 yellow ribbons tied around an Elm tree in front of the Hersey Home in grand one for every week since the Start of the Gulf the american Flag flutters beside the door and a sign in the window expresses Hope that american troops will come Home its a reminder to everyone that we support our we May not support Bush but we support our people i thought our troops were treated shamefully after i dont want to see that happen again this jerseys son a High school said most teenagers he knows oppose a few want us to go in there and take but now Many he i know i want them troops to come Home As soon As they this is pretty much nonsense for non the wind was blowing out of the whipping Snow against the plywood nailed Over the screened Verandah of the White clapboard farmhouse off the interstate at Vernetta sat at her Kitchen filling out contest entry watching soap operas and cursing the she said she lost three Brothers in the second world two in the attack on Pearl i sure miss my Brothers to this very she she said she believes she saved her Only sons life during the Vietnam she said she went before draft Board told them about her and then argued it was too much for her country to ask that her Only son be sent to they she said she Doest have a sophisticated View of world but believes in common you know what i really think they should do she they should make the presidents go fight and leave the people there be any War no and what Are they fighting Over Oil hard to you know Ive just got to wonder if the Day will come when everybody can be Gerald free press sheriff Dan Hill and wife sue had their world turned upside Jay jerseys mom has tied a yellow ribbon to tree outside her Home for 23 consecutive k i ;