Troops Get Little Bits of Home in Arabia : Gulf crisis: ‘Operation Orange Shield’ will send personal care packages to 5,000 servicemen and women who will spend the holidays in Saudi Arabia.

Tapes of music and messages from celebrities, along with Knott’s Berry Farm preserves and Los Angeles Rams yearbooks, are among the little bits of home that a consortium of local businesses plans to send to 5,000 Orange County Marines spending Christmas in Saudi Arabia.

The goal of “Operation Orange Shield,” as it has been dubbed by organizer Robert Nelson, a Costa Mesa public relations executive, is to send each of the local Marines a personal care package, sponsors said.

“I just think, like almost everyone else I talk to, that we want to do something a little bit special for the young men and women who are over there,” said Bob Roth, a spokesman for Disneyland, which is donating 5,000 decks of playing cards.

“I think we’re lucky to have the opportunity to do something on a large scale by joining these other groups.”

Organizers of the drive sent telegrams to 1,000 companies and individuals throughout the county last week asking for donations of $1,000 each; they hope to raise $50,000 for the purchase of additional gifts, sponsors said.

“We all owe a debt of gratitude to servicemen around the world serving in military Operation Desert Shield,” said Nelson. “I hope others will join us by sending a message to those soldiers risking their lives for the freedom of others.”

Local rock station KEZY-FM is donating tapes of music and messages from celebrities to the Marines, which were aired Wednesday.

Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who was listed as one of the drive’s sponsors on the telegrams sent to local businessmen, said he was eager to help Nelson, a former executive aide in his office.

Riley, a retired Marine Corps brigadier general who saw battle in World War II, recalled his own loneliness as a young Marine during his first Christmas away from home in Guadalcanal. Members of his unit gathered for a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, hiding candles under empty ration cans, until the distant sound of Japanese aircraft forced them to flee into the darkness.

“I served at Christmas, so I know it can be a time of loneliness,” Riley said. “That’s a time when thoughts return home, thoughts of family and a time of emotional separation.”

“Bringing a little bit of something from home, I think, will improve the morale,” he said.

The gift packages will be assembled Dec. 1 at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Anyone wishing to make monetary donations or volunteer for the project may call (714) 668-7218.