THE GULF WAR : Long Distance Wedding

The BRIDEGROOM WORE A CHEMICAL PROTECTION SUIT, a flak jacket and carried an M-16 rifle. Instead of rice, his guests threatened to throw sand at him. The BRIDE WORE WHITE--but that was 8,000 miles away. They exchanged marriage vows thanks to long-distance telephone, the governor of Florida, the 24th Infantry Division and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Specialist Kenneth Mefford, 24, currently residing in the northern Saudi desert, and Tammy Hinton, 31, of Ft. Pierce, Fla., were married recently despite the Gulf War. “I told her when we decided to get married that I wanted to do something she wouldn’t forget,” said the groom. He succeeded.