Photo Story: Fort McCoy hold Desert Storm History Day event recalling operation’s 35th anniversary, Part 1

Photo By Scott Sturkol | A scene from the Desert Storm History Day event is shown Feb. 26, 2026, at the Fort McCoy History Center at Fort McCoy, Wis. More than 70 people participated in the event that celebrated the observance of the 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm operations at Fort McCoy in 1991. Historian Ward Zischke with the 88th Readiness Division led the effort in showing the history of the operation as well as providing displays and artifacts from that era. The event was also supported by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol/Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

03.09.2026

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                              

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Fort McCoy honored the 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm on Feb. 26 with the Desert Storm History Day and Lunch and Learn at the Fort McCoy History Center in the historic Commemorative Area.

The event featured displays and discussion from the 88th Readiness Division Historian Ward Zischke. The 88th is an Army Reserve tenant organization at Fort McCoy.

For this event, the Fort McCoy History Center was open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and had a special 30-minute lunch and learn discussion by Zischke that was broadcast over Microsoft Teams to the installation.

During the talk, Zischke talked about Fort McCoy’s role in supporting Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. The date of this event was picked to line up with the exact 35th anniversary of the ground war for Operation Desert Storm.

“Today, the ground offensive of February 1991 was going on,” Zischke said. … The liberation of Kuwait — that was the reason for the offensive.”

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at [https://home.army.mil/mccoy](https://home.army.mil/mccoy), on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

• Date Taken: 03.09.2026
• Date Posted: 03.09.2026 17:10
• Story ID: 559921
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US