1993

At the end of April 1993, approximately 200 family members of Americans who lost their lives in the effort to liberate Kuwait visited Kuwait for one week. The participants experienced first-hand the country which members of their families had fought to free, becoming acquainted with the many Kuwaiti families who, like themselves, had also lost loved ones during the Gulf War. During their stay in Kuwait, the relatives (mostly wives and mothers) of the fallen American soldiers met with countless Kuwaiti officials eager to meet and host separate ceremonies for them. They also had the opportunity to meet with typical Kuwaiti families, who hosted luncheons in their homes for every single family, during which they spent hours conversing and providing the Americans with an up-close view of the society their relatives had given their lives to save. Several Desert Peace participants explained that the experience, more than any effort made by the U.S. government to console them for their loss, helped them to understand the people their loved ones had died to liberate.