To Marine veteran, decades-old salute still resonates
STAMFORD — Jimmy Sparrow watched from a VFW post as President George H.W. Bush’s speech was televised from the Tara Stamford Hotel on a Tuesday evening in October 1990.
Bush was in Stamford to stump for fellow Republican John Rowland, who had just finished three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was making his first run for governor of Connecticut.
Sparrow and a large group of fellow veterans at Post 6933 in Darien had tuned in because they thought Bush might mention the group in his remarks at the fundraising dinner.
“This all came back to me as I’ve been watching all the stuff about Bush since he died” Nov. 30 at age 94, the Stamford man said. “Bush is someone veterans like, since he’s a veteran himself.”
On that night 28 years ago, the members of Post 6933 wanted to see whether Bush would talk about their idea for supporting the troops he was sending to the Persian Gulf.
It was two months after Bush ordered the start of Operation Desert Shield, a response to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. As part of an international coalition, Bush had authorized a massive deployment of U.S. troops.
Almost immediately, Post 6933 obtained permission from the Pentagon to “adopt” a platoon, and began sending pens, paper, sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellent, canned goods, instant coffee, cookies, cotton socks, playing cards and other items to the troops. It was the first veterans organization to do so, according to newspaper articles from the time.
“We didn’t want the guys in the Gulf to be treated like the guys in ’Nam,” said Sparrow, who served in Vietnam along with the late Bob Hornlein, who initiated the effort. “We were afraid of that. I think Bush was, too, because Vietnam had ended not too long before.”
Vietnam, an ill-defined campaign to stop the spread of Communism, was the first war to play out on the nightly news. Returning troops were castigated as murderers and often shunned.
Post 6933 adopted the 197th Light Infantry Brigade’s DECON Platoon, which specialized in chemical warfare decontamination. Hussein was known to poison his enemies with gas.
“We wanted to let the troops know we loved them and supported them, even if it was just to send a toothbrush,” Sparrow said.
The reason he thought Bush might know about the platoon adoption was that there had been a story in VFW Magazine, which was circulated nationwide, Sparrow said.
“After that story appeared, I got a number of calls from the Bush White House,” Sparrow said. “I think the calls were from the speech writer Peggy Noonan. I’m not sure, but that’s how I remember it. She asked me a lot about what is was like to serve in Vietnam.”
So, when Bush went to the Tara Stamford Hotel on Summer Street, the veterans of Post 6933 gathered around a TV set. Bush had a lot to say about “Iraq’s outlaw act.”
“What is at stake is whether aggression pays, or whether aggression is punished,” Bush said. “Make no mistake – America will not waiver. The world will not allow Saddam Hussein’s act of aggression to stand.”
After Kuwait was freed, he said, the world would hold Hussein accountable, “just as it held Adolph Hitler accountable in the wake of the destruction of World War II,” in which Bush fought as a Navy pilot.
“So our staying power – and ultimately our success – is a matter of the strength of the forces that we send to Saudi Arabia, but it’s also a measure of our support back here at home,” Bush said. “That support is strong and deep, across the country and right here in Connecticut, where Darien’s VFW Post 6933 became one of the first in the nation to adopt an Army unit now stationed in Saudi Arabia. It’s spearheaded by veterans of Vietnam and Korea – like Robert Hornlein and James Sparrow, who remember what it’s like to serve overseas, and how much it means to get a package from home. Whether it’s extra pens and paper, or high-demand items like sunglasses and flyswatters, every package is a reminder to every member of our Armed Services that America cares.”
With those words, the crowd at the VFW “exploded,” Sparrow said.
“We had an idea he might mention Post 6933, but when he said our names, the place went berserk,” Sparrow said.
It felt particularly good for Vietnam veterans, said Sparrow, who’d belonged to an all-Vietnam VFW in Stamford that was raided by police on false reports of gambling and drug use. It eventually shut down.
“People thought we were criminals,” Sparrow said. “None of it was true.”
Sparrow, a longtime veterans advocate, helped lead a group called Vietnam Veteran Agent Orange Victims, which successfully sued the chemical companies that produced the jungle defoliant. In 1982 a federal court awarded the group $240 million to distribute to the thousands of veterans suffering the ill effects of Agent Orange.
Three months after Bush’s speech in Stamford, he launched Operation Desert Storm. Hussein was defeated in less than two months. It is known for the U.S. military’s use of technology that allowed precision bombing of enemy targets with minimal civilian casualties.
Post 6933 adopted a second platoon, 9th Marines, 3rd Battalion, a heavy artillery company, and ended up sending several tons of supplies to troops in the Persian Gulf.
He believes Bush appreciated it, Sparrow said.
“I’m sorry he died, but it has a good side to it,” Sparrow said. “It is showing the country what a president should be.”