If you’ll permit me I need to preface this piece with a few remarks and riders.Firstly I make no apologies for taking time here to pay my regards to two American servicemen. We have many heroes of our own I know, I have been lucky enough to meet one or two during the course of my career. As time goes by I will pay homage, in the magazine and on the blog, to as many of them as I can, and as their ‘anniversaries’ come up.
Whatever your views about these two servicemen, and US foreign policy you’ll notice that however badly a military operation is conceived and planned, and however dubious you may feel the intent is, the outcomes are so often the same. Ordinary men and women, doing the duty, looking after their comrades and so often dying doing it.
In 1992 the United Nations supported by U.S. armed forces had arrived in Somalia in a joint operation known as Operation Restore Hope. The intention was to restore order in a country destroyed by civil war and brought to its knees by famine. Despite an initial agreement of a ceasefire 24 Pakistani UN troops were killed in an ambush in an area controlled by Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The UN Security Council called for the arrest and trial of those responsible, issuing resolution 837. Then in July 1993 a 20 minute US helicopter attack killed 73 Clan elders and not the militia who were the intended target. So by the time of Operation Gothic Serpent (of which The Battle of Mogadishu was part) Mogadishu was at boiling point and US popularity at an all time low. Six months and 48000 tons of food and medical aid had not helped the situation, half a million Somalis were dead and three times that number displaced, and it was felt that drastic action was needed.
The plan for this stage of Operation Gothic Serpent was simple enough, fly in, arrest key members of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s regime and get out in a road convoy. As we know, it went horribly wrong, leaving 18 American servicemen dead and 73 wounded, whilst casualties amongst the Somalis were hard to estimate. Combined figures for civilians and armed militia range from around 1000-3000 dead to twice or even three times that number wounded. These figures themselves have brought questions about a lack of restraint by US forces, on the other hand the killing of the UN troops, and alleged abuses of the bodies of the dead and wounded were fresh in the mind. Whilst the US forces were better armed and extremely well trained, the Somali militia in the area numbered in the thousands.
Everybody has an opinion about this and it is not my intention the challenge any of those. Nor is it my intention to make any judgements as to the rights and wrongs of the operation. All I can do is offer my sympathies to the families of all of those that died in Mogadishu.
Randall Shughart and Gary Gordon
The real purpose of this piece is to pay tribute to two extraordinarily brave men.
Sergeant First Class Randal Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon both lost their lives on October 3rd 1993 protecting the lives of the crew of Black Hawk helicopter Super Six Four commanded by Mike Durant.
Super Six Four had been shot down by a rocket propelled grenade, Shughart and Gordon were in another Black Hawk, Super Six Two commanded by Mike Goffena, which had taken up a holding pattern above the crash site.From this position Shughart and Gordon were providing suppressive fire and sniper cover. It soon became clear that despite the fact that militia men in their hundreds were converging on the crash site no ground rescue was imminent. Shughart and Gordon repeatedly requested permission to be dropped near Six Four’s crash site in order to provide protection from the ground. The first two requests were rejected but finally granted on the third request, the pilot of Blackhawk Super 62, Mike Goffena set them down about 100 metres from the crash site. From there they fought their way past shacks and through narrow passage ways, under constant fire and with the numbers of militia growing steadily.
The accounts of exactly was happened next vary from teller to teller but they all agree that Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon showed uncommon bravery and devotion as they tried to protect the pilot and crew of Super Six Four. In a fire fight that followed Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon patrolled the perimeter of the crash site repelling hundreds of armed gunmen, and putting themselves in grave danger.
Make no mistake here, whilst many of the hundreds of armed Somalis converging on the crash site were effectively untrained civilians they were, mostly, well armed with automatic weapons and not short of shooting experience. And amongst their number were well organised bands of local militia. Additionally many were furiously angry over the death of their clan leaders and with what they saw as an occupying force. Shughart and Gordon could have opted to stay in the Black Hawk and used it’s Miniguns to indiscriminately spray the entire area with bullets, but they didn’t.
Finally Gary was killed. It is not absolutely clear which man died first, and I don’t suppose it matters much now, but to continue this version of events, following Gary’s death Randy returned to Mike Durant, now the only survivor of Super Six Four, giving him Gary’s weapon before returning to patrol the area. Very shortly afterwards, his ammunition depleted, Randy was shot and fatally wounded.
Having attacked the bodies of the fallen with knives, machetes, stones and various other weapons the militia descended upon pilot Mike Durant, fiercely beating him before being told to stop by a local militia leader, arriving at the scene, who claimed him as a prisoner.
The time that Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon had bought Mike Durant had saved his life. No one will ever know exactly what went through their minds when they volunteered to protect Super Six Four from the ground. But they were above the area at the time and could clearly see the numbers of armed persons that they would be facing and that were converging on the crash site from every angle. Whilst you couldn’t say the action was a forlorn hope it was certainly close to one. They must have known that their chances if survival were small. But they didn’t hesitate to step in.
In recognition of the extreme heroism and devotion to duty Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the US’ highest award, the Medal of Honor.
Please take a moment to read the citations on the official web site here;
http://www.medalofhonor.com/Somalia.htm
Make no mistake here, whilst many of the hundreds of armed Somalis converging on the crash site were effectively untrained civilians they were, mostly, well armed with automatic weapons and not short of shooting experience. And amongst their number were well organised bands of local militia. Additionally many were furiously angry over the death of their clan leaders and with what they saw as an occupying force. Shughart and Gordon could have opted to stay in the Black Hawk and used it’s Miniguns to indiscriminately spray the entire area with bullets, but they didn’t.
Finally Gary was killed. It is not absolutely clear which man died first, and I don’t suppose it matters much now, but to continue this version of events, following Gary’s death Randy returned to Mike Durant, now the only survivor of Super Six Four, giving him Gary’s weapon before returning to patrol the area. Very shortly afterwards, his ammunition depleted, Randy was shot and fatally wounded.
Having attacked the bodies of the fallen with knives, machetes, stones and various other weapons the militia descended upon pilot Mike Durant, fiercely beating him before being told to stop by a local militia leader, arriving at the scene, who claimed him as a prisoner.
The time that Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon had bought Mike Durant had saved his life. No one will ever know exactly what went through their minds when they volunteered to protect Super Six Four from the ground. But they were above the area at the time and could clearly see the numbers of armed persons that they would be facing and that were converging on the crash site from every angle. Whilst you couldn’t say the action was a forlorn hope it was certainly close to one. They must have known that their chances if survival were small. But they didn’t hesitate to step in.
In recognition of the extreme heroism and devotion to duty Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the US’ highest award, the Medal of Honor.
Please take a moment to read the citations on the official web site here;
http://www.medalofhonor.com/Somalia.htm
Of the two men the surviving pilot Mike Durant said -
"Without a doubt, I owe my life to these two men and their bravery.” “Those guys came in when they had to know it was a losing battle," "There was nobody else left to back them up. If they had not come in, I wouldn't have survived.”
The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living who belong to them.
- Edmund Burke
