The highly decorated Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf died in his home in Tampa, Florida. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Known to his soldiers as “Stormin’ Norman,” General Schwarzkopf led some 540,000 U.S. and 200,000 allied troops in the first Gulf war that forced Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait in 1991. The ground war ended in only 100 hours.
Schwarzkopf was born August 22, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., the head of the New Jersey State Police. At the time, the older Schwarzkopf was leading the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son, one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century.
About Israel Schwarzkopf said: “I admire Israel because she is a democracy; I admire Israel because I love the underdog, I always loved the underdog, and as a military man I cannot help but admire Israel’s military successes. But let me tell you I that I have never admired Israel more than I did during Operation Desert Storm because Israel had 40 reasons to enter the war—that is how many Scuds were fired at Israel. Sometimes it is said that Israel does not have the interest of the world at heart, and only has its own interest at heart, but this is not true. The Desert War proved the opposite: Israel was under tremendous pressure to enter the war, but for the good of everyone in the Coalition, Israel showed great forbearance for the common good, and because of that I am convinced today that we have the greatest opportunity today for peace, greater than at any time in my lifetime.”