Port-au-Prince airport security personnel (background) look on as US troops in full combat gear begin to secure the airport's premises, on September 19, 1994 after a first wave of assault helicopters arrived in the Haitian capital. Thousands of US soldiers arrived in Haiti on September 19, 1994 as part of the Operation Uphold Democracy, to pave the way for the restoration of the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted three years ago.