Eloise Ogden/MDN The Minot Daily News front page on Jan. 17, 1991, announced in its headline “War in the gulf” and the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. President H.W. Bush addressed the nation the night before on the start of the military operation.

Thirty years ago on Jan. 16, 1991, President H.W. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office on the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.

Operation Desert Storm was the military operation to push out Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Earlier in August 1990 about 100,000 Iraqi forces had invaded neighboring Kuwait.

The Minot Daily News staff set in motion churning out stories from the homefront for its next day Jan. 17, 1991, edition. The newspaper became a morning paper a few years earlier meaning stories were produced, photos prepared and the newspaper assembled the day before for the next day’s edition, as it is today.

Some local residents “were devastated, some bitter and others relieved by the news that war had broken out in the Middle East,” the newspaper reported. Some residents had sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, spouses, other relatives and friends stationed with the military in the Middle East but most did not know their specific location.

Dr. Paul Purdy, Minot, state chairman of the Military Family Support Network, told The Minot Daily News, “I, like all Americans, am saddened by the fact that war is once again with us, and we pray and hope for safety of our troops.”

Hours after the U.S. planes attacked Baghdad, Gen. Alexander Macdonald of the North Dakota National Guard reported he spoke earlier with N.D. Guard units in the Persian Gulf and learned the troops were fine. Neither he nor they knew anything about what was coming, he said.

At that time, North Dakota had 437 people stationed in Saudi Arabia in the seven units deployed. Macdonald said they were about 50 miles south of the western Kuwaiti border.

Other North Dakotans were in the military in the Middle East with the Army Reserves and other military branches.

An area resident also remembered what it was like when bombs started falling on a city. The resident, who had worked in a factory in England in the 1940s during World War II, said people ran for underground shelters when the rockets came.

Brig. Gen. Robert Linhard, commander of Minot Air Force Base’s 57th Air Division, held a news conference on Jan. 18, 1991. He said the Minot base was continuing to perform its normal task of maintaining deterrence. (Linhard died in 1996 with the rank of major general.)

However, he said the base is having to do the work with fewer people as a result of deployments in support of Desert Shield. Operation Desert Shield, launched in August 1990, was the U.S. response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. That operation transitioned to Operation Desert Storm.

“Our position in the trench is maintain B-52Hs on the end of our runway on alert and Minuteman IIIs on alert on the beautiful North Dakota prairie.

“That we have to do day in, day out, Christmas, New Year’s, whether we’re fighting somewhere else, whether we’re not fighting somewhere else as long as our national leadership says that contributes to deterrence. That’s our primary mission, so that normality is going on,” Linhard said.

Linhard said the base deployed its first group of people in August 1990. He said hundreds of base people have been deployed and are serving in more than a couple dozen locations along with North Dakotans from the National Guard and Reserves.

He said the Minot base had increased its security because of the present situation and base people and their families were instructed that if they became aware of any suspicious activities to report them to security police.

The outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf had not yet affected local school programs.

Minot State University was holding “classes as usual” this week, according to MSU President Gordon Olson. There were no moves to postpone school or extracurricular events at Minot High School and Bishop Ryan High School in Minot.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., in a story in The Minot Daily News on Jan. 17, 1991, called for unity and support of the war effort, following the air strikes in Iraq.

Conrad voted against the resolution in the U.S. Senate giving the president authority to send Americans into war if he felt it necessary. He took the view the better method would be to continue sanction against Iraq, the newspaper reported.

“I urge the people of North Dakota to remember the many North Dakota families who have sent sons and daughters, mothers and fathers to the Persian Gulf. Reach out to these families with support and help, let them know we are proud of their loved ones and grateful for their contributions,” Conrad said.