“These men walked into the lion’s den without fear, knowing that there would only be one outcome.”
Last month I failed to provide an American Hero article — I’ve decided to make it up by writing a double this month. I used to tell my children to never let fear control you. That doesn’t mean don’t listen to your fears, but instead overcome the associated paralysis and use those feelings to motivate yourself into action.
To me, being able to do this is the true definition of a hero. A hero doesn’t need to be a warrior, it can be the little brother that is spurred to action when his sister stops breathing. It is the firefighter who rushes into a building to save someone he has never met. What ties them together is that they put aside their fears to accomplish the incredible.
In this case, it was two men who knowingly gave their lives for a brother in arms. When I say knowingly, I mean that they intentionally put themselves into a situation that they could not survive. What is even more incredible is that they requested permission to conduct this mission multiple times before they were ultimately allowed to proceed. Why? Because everyone knew this mission would be a one-way ticket.
To me, there is a special category for these men. There are countless stories of people doing incredibly heroic deeds throughout our nation’s history. Often times they don’t have time to ponder their actions. These men walked into the lion’s den without fear, knowing that there would only be one outcome.
Their names are Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, and the battlefield was Mogadishu, Somalia. Somalia had been a country in turmoil for generations. In 1988 the country was being torn apart by civil war. This war lead to massive famine throughout the country. As a result, the United Nations intervened in Operation Restore Hope.
The theory behind this operation was that the United Nations would lead the way in helping provide some semblance of security and assist with the rationing of emergency food supplies. This was a monumental failure and the warlords perpetuating the civil war increased their base of power. Eventually the United States sent in Task Force Ranger with the intent of capturing General Muhammed Farah Aideed. Aideed had refused to accept any of the negotiated solutions with the United Nations and was directly engaging the military in armed conflict.
It is here that our story starts — October 3rd, 1993. Task Force Ranger was sent on its seventh mission since arriving into Somalia. They had positive intelligence on the location of two of Aideed’s senior military advisors and launched a mission to capture them. There were problems from the onset.
First, the Somali’s engaged the Americans in overwhelming numbers and with much more coordination and ferocity than in the previous six missions. Second, while loading up 24 prisoners, one of the Blackhawk helicopters providing support was shot down and crashed approximately 3 blocks away. While sending in a rescue team, another helicopter was hit and somehow managed to make it back to base.
While the return of the second helicopter was celebrated, it also meant that another support vehicle was now taken out of the fight. Shortly after this, another helicopter crashed. This was Super Six Four, piloted by Michael Durant.
Durant was the only survivor from the crash, and was attempting to fight off a mob moving towards his airframe with only an MP5 in hand. Overhead, a support helicopter with three Delta Force snipers was providing limited cover, all while dodging the same rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fire that had taken out Super Six Four. As the situation continued to unfold, the Delta operators realized that the pilot on the ground was a dead man if action wasn’t taken immediately.
The main force of Rangers, the closest friendlies to the crash site, were fighting thousands of armed Somalis and were completely pinned down. The 10th Mountain Division, which had been sent in to provide support for the Rangers, was having difficulty making their way through the maze of streets.
Shughart and Gordon requested permission to take the fight directly to the enemy. The third member, Sergeant First Class Brad Hallings, had taken over control of the mini-gun on the aircraft and would not be able to debark. They didn’t know how many soldiers were still alive on the ground, but they knew they weren’t going to be left alone. The response came back from the mission commander indicating there was no way they were going to be allowed to go in on foot. There was no immediate support coming, no fire support available, and the status of the crew was unknown.
After confirming movement at the crash site, the Delta Force snipers again requested to be allowed to secure the site and aid the survivors. Once again they were denied. It wasn’t until the third request that the command realized these men were not going to quietly wait for the mob to overtake the crash site.
The pilot attempted to land at the crash site but the fire was too intense and they were forced to move approximately one hundred meters south. While Shughart and Gordon were getting inserted, the aircraft also took a RPG hit and had to immediately return to base. This meant that the two men were now completely on their own, surrounded by hundreds of fighters attacking from all sides.
After fighting their way to the aircraft, they quickly extracted Durant and moved him to safety. They then positioned themselves between the enemy and Durant, armed with only their sniper rifles and side arms.
There is some disagreement on what exactly happened next. The official story is that Shughart was then shot, but Durant believes it was Gordon. In either case, the only thing that was said was, “Damn, I’m hit.” As Durant tells it there was no fear in that voice, simply aggravation. The surviving Delta member then circled back to Durant to give him a weapon and ask if there was more ammunition in the airframe. Shughart (or Gordon) then went back to the airframe to retrieve ammunition and radio in a situation report. He was told to hang on and that reinforcements would be there in a little while.
Understanding the finality of this statement, Shughart returned to Durant and gave him the last five rounds of rifle ammunition and left him with the final words, “Good luck.” He then, armed with only his pistol, returned to the fight and continued to hold off the entirety of the Somali forces surrounding him until he was finally overrun and killed. After overtaking the site, the Somalis drug the bodies of the Americans through the streets to show their victory. It was a scene that outraged the world in a prelude to the public executions conducted via streaming video by ISIS.
Due to the sacrifice of these two men, Michael Durant survived and was taken prisoner. He would be released eleven days later after negotiations. In the end, the Somalis claimed that twenty-five of their fighters had been killed with dozens more seriously wounded by Shughart and Gordon. Considering that it was hundreds against just two lone men, with inadequate ammunition and weapons systems, these numbers are truly amazing. For their selfless sacrifice both men were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
In the entirety of our nation’s history, there are few stories that have the same emotional pull on me as this one. To plead for permission to sacrifice your life on the chance that another may live is something most cannot begin to comprehend. Given the same opportunity, how many can actually say they could make the same call?
I believe that Steven Curtis Chapman said it best in his song, No Greater Love, “There is no greater love than this; There is no greater gift that can ever be given; To be willing to die, so another might live; There is no greater love than this.”
