Shield to mark first Gulf War nears completion

A bronze 8m wide shield created to commemorate the first Gulf War is nearing completion.

Pangolin Editions, in Gloucestershire, is making the centrepiece for the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial, which will be unveiled in Washington DC next year.

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm saw thousands of troops sent to the Middle East in response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

Rungwe Kingdon, co-founder of Pangolin Editions in Chalford, said his team was "proud" to be involved in the project.

Scott Stump, president and CEO of the National Desert Storm Memorial Association, who commissioned the foundry to create the centrepiece, said the memorial is about "unity".

"It's about a coming together, accomplishing things that in today's world of division seem almost impossible," he added.

The shield will have a large water feature and the names of the coalition countries will be around the perimeter.

It will also include the national flower of Kuwait.

• A UN Security Council resolution, authorised the use of force if the Iraqi army failed to withdraw from southern neighbour Kuwait by 15 January 1991
• At 23:30 GMT on 16 January, an intense and sustained aerial bombardment began involving cruise missiles launched from US warships and US, British and Saudi Arabian fighter planes, bombers and helicopters
• By the end of February the Iraqi army retreated from Kuwait and a three-day land campaign ended when US President George Bush declared victory
• The first Gulf War brought together the largest military alliance since World War Two - more than 30 allies, including Britain, which fielded a force of more than 50,000, the US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Last year, Pangolin Editions produced a large World War One memorial, which can also be seen in Washington DC, and it has worked with a number of artists.

The foundry said most of the team has been involved in the latest project.

Mr Kingdon said: "It's wonderful that our company has found favour with so many great artists to make what are the monuments of our age."

"We're very pleased to play our part in that," he added.

Mr Stump said he was "awestruck" when he saw the shield during a visit to the foundry.

"To see it all together and to appreciate the shape and the pitch and all of the surface treatments coming together as one unit is really, it's just hard to describe," he said.

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.