NORWICH – 2016 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, the middle east conflict in which more than 600,000 United States service members took part in the largest deployment of U.S. Armed Forces since Vietnam.

Craig Hackett, then a Specialist from Norwich was one of those who left friends and family behind to serve our nation and secure a victory for freedom.

On Memorial Day of this year, Hackett, who now serves as a Sargent at the Chenango County Correctional Facility, will march alongside more than 500 Gulf War veterans in the American Veterans Center’s National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC.

To mark the 25th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm and honor those who served and sacrificed, the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association and America Veterans Center have invited more than 500 Gulf War veterans to reunite at the National Memorial Day Parade. The veterans are participating thanks to the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association and its mission to honor the legacy of the Gulf War though building a monument in the nation’s capital to the 383 service members who fell during the war and honoring those who served in this pivotal moment in world history.