Marine veteran Scott Stump wins 16-year fight for Gulf War memorial on National Mall

A Marine veteran from Waynesville, North Carolina, has spent more than a decade and a half pushing for a national memorial honoring the veterans of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, and the project is now moving toward completion on the National Mall. Scott Stump led the effort, which is scheduled to open on October 24, 2026. The memorial recognizes the generation of service members who fought in the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991.

The idea took shape in November 2010, around the 20th anniversary of Desert Storm. Stump has said the project was privately funded and that no taxpayer money was used. The effort was organized as an association rather than a foundation, a structure chosen to avoid permanent payroll costs. Securing the necessary approvals took years of persistent work with lawmakers and federal agencies.

Congressional authorization took roughly three and a half to four years to advance. The House passed the measure 370-0 in May 2014. The authorization was then included in the fiscal year 2015 defense bill, which was signed in December 2014. That step gave the project its legal foundation, but the search for a location came next.

Site selection took about 39 months before the project received approval on June 21, 2018. The memorial will sit near 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue on the National Mall, one of the most prominent public spaces in the country for national monuments. The Interior Department and the National Park Service formally welcomed the memorial in October, marking another milestone in a process that began with a single idea more than a decade and a half earlier.

The Gulf War drew a large American military deployment after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The ground war that followed lasted about 100 hours. The memorial is intended to recognize the service of those who took part in that conflict and the years that followed, a group whose sacrifices, supporters of the project argue, have received less public commemoration than those of other wartime generations.

Stump's campaign has drawn attention to other efforts on behalf of veterans as well. A separate campaign, Operation Debt of Gratitude, is led by Bear Handlon, co-founder of Born Primitive, in partnership with Black Rifle Coffee. The companies have pledged 100 percent of their online profits from November 6 through Veterans Day to erase up to $35 million in medical debt for about 20,000 veterans and first responders. Since 2024, the campaign has reportedly erased more than $50 million in medical debt for more than 25,000 people. Handlon has said that if needed, he may personally pay a specific bill cited in the campaign, reportedly $8,000 owed by a former SEAL and U.S. Marshal, though that account has not been independently verified.

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Connor Quincy

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Connor Quincy covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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