Remembering fallen of 14th Quartermaster focus of bike run

Spc. Frank Keough of North Huntingdon was short but mighty, according to his sisters.

At 5 feet, 5 inches, “He was always the smallest, but it didn’t stop him,” according to Denise Samuels of Irwin, one of eight siblings who grew up in the large Keough clan. “He was the light of our family. That’s why it was so hard to lose him.”

Samuels, her husband, John, and two of her sisters, Gina and Jackie Keough, both of North Huntingdon, joined Army reservists, veterans and close to 200 motorcycle riders Saturday in honoring the ultimate sacrifice made three decades ago by Frank Keough, 22, and 12 other members of the 14th Quartermaster Detachment, a Hempfield-based Army Reserve unit.

That water purification unit saw 13 members killed and 43 others wounded on Feb. 25, 1991, when an Iraqi Scud missile struck their barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where they’s been deployed to serve in Operation Desert Storm. All told, 29 soldiers died and 99 were wounded in the attack.

“It was the single most devastating attack on U.S. forces during the war,” said First Lt. Andrew Smelser, the current company commander of the 14th Quartermaster. “They trained hard, and they were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. And, sadly, some of them did make that sacrifice on that day.”

That loss was recalled Saturday in a ceremony conducted before a memorial to those service members, outside the unit headquarters. It was the high point of the Fallen Heroes Run, a motorcycle outing in Westmoreland County organized by the nonprofit Operation Vet NOW.

Tony Aubrey of Monroeville, the organization’s team leader, is an Air Force veteran who also served in Desert Storm, with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing. He graduated from high school a few years before Frank Keough, a member of the Norwin Class of 1986.

“I can’t believe it’s been 30 years, and that’s why it’s even more important that we continue to remember them,” Aubrey said of those killed in the Scud attack.

Operation Desert Storm, part of the Gulf War, began Jan. 16, 1991, to expel Iraq forces that had invaded Kuwait. The five-week air and sea bombardment on Iraq by a U.S.-led coalition officially ended Feb. 28.

“It’s just awesome that they do this,” John Samuels said of the bike run and ceremony.

An Army veteran, he served 10 years with a field artillery unit and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, at the same time as Frank Keough. “It was an honor that we got to serve together at the same place in the last years of his life,” Samuels said.

Keough entered the military because he envisioned a career as a math teacher and wanted to take advantage of the G.I. bill to pursue his degree.

“I think he really enjoyed being in the service,” said Denise Samuels. “He met a lot of great people, and he made a lot of friends.

“We’re grateful and blessed to be here to honor all the soldiers. It means everything.”

After a pandemic-driven hiatus last summer, this is the the third year Monroeville-based Operation Vet NOW (OVN) has honored fallen service members from the area with a motorcycle run.

It was paired with a veterans and military appreciation event, held in the lot of to be held at the Z&M Harley-Davidson dealership on Route 30 in Hempfield, where the run began and ended. In addition to OVN’s Veterans Village informational outreach, military displays, live music, children’s activities and food trucks were featured.

Proceeds from the event’s entry fee help OVN provide support to veterans of all eras who are dealing with combat-related stress or mental health issues.