Foreword

With the Marine Expedinonary Force in Desert Shield and Desert Storm is the work of one historian who viewed the conflict from the perspective of IMEF headquarters. We invite comment, amplification, and correction.

This monograph is a preliminary accounting of the role of the U.S. Marine Corps' senior command in the Persian Gulf conflict from 8 August 1990 to 16 April 1991. It is one of a series covering the operations of the 1st Marine Division; the 2d Marine Division; the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing; Combat Service Support Element, comprised of 1st and 2d Force Service Support Groups units; Marines afloat in Desert Shield and Desert Storm; and humanitarian relief operations in northern Iraq and Turkey.

When the History and Museums Division began the historical collection effort concerning Marine activities in the Persian Gulf area, it called upon the members of Mobilization Training Unit (History) DC-7, which Colonel Charles J. Quilter II, USMCR, has commanded since 1989. This small organization of Individual Ready Reserve officers is the only Marine Corps unit that provides historians, combat artists, archivists, and museum specialists in support of History and Museums Division programs. Most of its members have classical military specialties and have subsequently gained in their civilian pursuits the additional qualifications necessary to serve in the unit. About half of these officers served in Vietnam. During the Persian Gulf conflict, seven of MTU DC-7's officers were on active duty and five served in the Gulf.

The first Marine Reserve historians to arrive in theater were Colonel Quilter and Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Cureton, who landed in Saudi Arabia on 9 November 1990. Colonel Quilter was immediately designated Command Historian of I Marine Expeditionary Force by its commander, Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer. Over the next five months, he crisscrossed the I MEF area of operations, witnessing events from the launching of the first Marine air strikes against Iraq on 17 January 1991 to the liberation of Kuwait City on 27 February 1991. During the process, he nursed an elderly laptop computer and assorted camera gear while putting more than 22,000 miles on several vehicles.

Colonel Quilter enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1960. After studying in Japan, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, having majored in East Asian history. He was commissioned in 1964. Designated an aviator in 1965, he served primarily as a F-4B Phantom pilot over the next four years. In Vietnam he flew 252 combat missions and became a flight commander. Other assignments included duties as a squadron operations officer, adversary pilot, and air combat intelligence officer

iii

First Page | Prev Page | Next Page | Src Image |