Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993                   TAG: 9306300096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GULF CHEMICAL INJURY CLAIMS TO BE PROBED

Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., chairman of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on force requirements and personnel, said Tuesday he hopes the hearing will be "the first step toward getting to the bottom of what happened on the night of Jan. 20, 1991."

Veterans of a Navy Reserve seabee unit told The Birmingham News they believe they were hit by a chemical weapon that night while stationed near an airstrip south of the port of Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf.

They said they were told not to talk about the incident but decided to break their silence because they have been unable to obtain government medical care for health problems they believe stem directly from the attack.

Larry Perry of Gold Hill, N.C., a former chief petty officer with the Seabee unit who retired because of health problems, told the newspaper the chemical attack came about 3:30 a.m., several hours after Scud missile alerts had ended and the Seabees were asleep in their tents.

An explosion sent them scrambling with gas masks to nearby bomb shelters, Perry said. After the all-clear sounded, he said, they emerged from the shelters and about a dozen of them who had gathered near a latrine were surrounded by a mist.

"All of my exposed skin was like it was on fire," Roy Butler, one of those near the latrine, told the newspaper. "It was burning like crazy. I couldn't breathe. I had to take my mask off and clear my nose. I immediately thought we got . . . gassed."