Master Sgt. ( August 30 , 1960 – October 3 , 1993 ) is a Posthumous recipient of the Medal Of Honor . At the time of his death, he was a Non-commissioned Officer in the United States Army's special operations unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D) , or "Delta Force." He earned the Medal of Honor for actions he performed during the Battle Of Mogadishu in October 1993.
Gary Gordon was born in Lincoln , Maine in 1960. While serving in the U.S. Army, Gordon earned the Combat Infantryman Badge , Master Parachutist Wings , Ranger tab and the Special Forces Tab . He served with the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group before being chosen to join the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D), or "Delta Force" as a Sniper .
Gordon was deployed to Mogadishu , Somalia with other Delta members in the summer of 1993 as part of Task Force Ranger . On October 3 , 1993 Gordon was Sniper Team Leader during Operation Gothic Serpent , a joint-force Assault mission to apprehend key advisers to Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid .
During the assault, Super Six One, one of the Army's Black Hawk Helicopters providing insertion and air support to the assault team, was shot down and had crashed in the city. A Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) team was dispatched to the first crash site to secure it. Shortly thereafter, Super Six Four was shot down as well. Ranger forces on the ground were not able to assist the downed helicopter crew of the second crash site as they were already engaged in heavy combat with Aidid's Militia and making their way to the first crash site.
Gordon and his sniper teammate Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart , and Sergeant First Class Brad Hallings who were providing sniper cover from the air, requested to be dropped at the second crash site in order to protect the four critically wounded Crew , despite the fact that large numbers of armed, hostile Somalis were converging on the area.
Mission commanders denied Gordon's request, saying that the situation was already too dangerous for the two Delta snipers to effectively protect the Blackhawk crew from the ground. Command's position was that the snipers could be of more assistance by continuing to provide air cover. Gordon, however, concluded that there was no way for the Black Hawk crew could survive on their own, and repeated his request twice until he finally received permission. Hallings, however had taken control of one of the Blackhawk's mini guns after a crew chief was injured, and was not sent to protect the downed helicopter.
Once on the ground, Gordon and Shughart, armed with only their personal weapons and sidearms, had to fight their way to the location of the downed Blackhawk. By this time more Somalis were arriving who were intent on either capturing or killing the American servicemen. When they reached Super Six Four, Gordon and Shughart extracted the Pilot , Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant and the other crew members from the aircraft, and established defensive positions around the crash.
Despite having inflicted heavy casualties against the Somalis, the two Delta snipers were too outnumbered and outgunned. Their ammunition nearly depleted, Gordon and Shughart finally were killed by Somali gunfire. It is believed that Gordon was first to be fatally wounded. His teammate Shughart retrieved Gordon's CAR-15 assault rifle and gave it to Durant to use. Shortly after, Shughart was killed and Durant was taken alive.[1]
There was some confusion in the aftermath of the action as to who had been killed first. The official citation states that it was Shughart, but author '', the best-selling book about the October 1993 events, relates an account by Sergeant Paul Howe, another Delta operator participating in the battle. Howe said that he heard Shughart call for help on the radio and that the weapon handed to Durant was not the distinctive M14 used by Shughart. It is likely that Durant would have commented had it been an M14, as that weapon is very different from the CAR-15 Gordon had. Furthermore, Howe said that Gordon would never have given his own weapon to another soldier to use while he was still able to fight.2
In the 2001 film '' Black Hawk Down '', Gordon was portrayed by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster Waldau .
On May 23 , 1994 , both Gordon and Shughart were posthumously decorated the Medal of Honor in recognition for the actions they took and the sacrifices they made to help protect the life of Durant and the crew of Super Six Four. They were the only soldiers participating in Operation Gothic Serpent to receive the military's highest honor, and the first Medal of Honor recipients since the Vietnam War .3
The U.S. Navy officially named a , 1996 , at Newport News , Virginia . Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania , was the ceremony's principal speaker. Serving as the ship's sponsor was Carmen Gordon, widow of the ship's namesake.
Distinguished guests attending the ceremony include:
- John W. Douglass, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition
- General Dennis J. Reimer , Army Chief Of Staff
- General (Retired) Wayne A. Downing , former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command
- Vice Admiral George R. Sterner, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command
- Vice Admiral Philip M. Quast, Commander, Military Sealift Command
- General Henry Shelton , Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command
- General (Retired) Gordon R. Sullivan , former Army Chief Of Staff
- Brigadier General William G. Boykin , Master Sgt. Gordon's Commanding Officer in Somalia and former Commander of the Army's Combat Applications Group
- Mr. William P. Fricks, President and Chief Executive Officer, Newport News Shipbuilding .
''Gordon'' was the second ship to undergo conversion from a commercial container vessel to a Large Medium Speed Roll On/Roll Off (LMSR) sealift ship and is operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command , Washington, D.C.
- ''Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War'' by Mark Bowden , published by Penguin Books in 2000, ISBN 0-14-028850-3
- ''In The Company of Heroes: A True Story'' by Michael J. Durant with Steve Hartov, published by Putnam Publishing Group in 2003, ISBN 0-399-15060-9
- ''The Battle of Mogadishu: First Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger'' by Matt Eversmann , published by Presidio Press in 2004, ISBN 0-345-45965-2
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