Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Dead At 78
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78.
Schwarzkopf died Thursday in Tampa, Fla.
A much-decorated combat soldier in Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was known popularly as "Stormin' Norman" for a notoriously explosive temper.
A sister of Schwarzkopf, Ruth Barenbaum of Middlebury, Vt., told The Associated Press that Schwarzkopf died from complications from pneumonia.
Schwarzkopf lived in retirement in Tampa, where he had served in his last military assignment as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command. That is the headquarters responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20 countries from the eastern Mediterranean and Africa to Pakistan.
Former President George H.W. Bush, who is currently hospitalized in Houston, issued a statement mourning the loss of "a true American patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation."
"General Norm Schwarzkopf, to me, epitomized the 'duty, service, country' creed that has defended our freedom and seen this great Nation through our most trying international crises," the statement read. "More than that, he was a good and decent man — and a dear friend. Barbara and I send our condolences to his wife Brenda and his wonderful family."
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