Gary Gordon Explained

Gary Gordon
Nickname:"Gordy"
Birth Date:30 August 1960
Birth Place:Lincoln, Maine, United States
Death Place:Mogadishu, Somalia
Placeofburial:West Broadway Cemetery, Lincoln, Maine
Allegiance:United States
Branch:United States Army
Serviceyears:1978–1993
Rank:Master Sergeant
Unit:10th Special Forces Group
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta
Battles:Operation Just Cause
Persian Gulf War
Operation Gothic Serpent
Awards:Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
Meritorious Service Medal
Army Commendation Medal

Gary Ivan Gordon (August 30, 1960 – October 3, 1993) was a master sergeant in the United States Army and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. At the time of his death, he was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army's premier special operations unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D), or "Delta Force". Together with his comrade, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, Gordon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993.

Early life and career

Gary Gordon was born August 30, 1960, in Lincoln, Maine, and graduated from Mattanawcook Academy in 1978. On December 4 of that year, at age 18, he joined the U.S. Army. Trained as a combat engineer, Gordon became a Special Forces Engineer with the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group. In December 1986, he volunteered and was selected to join the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D), or Delta Force. As a Delta operator, Gordon eventually advanced to Team Sergeant.Before deploying to Somalia, he married his wife Carmen and they had two children, Brittany and Ian.[1] [2] [3]

Combat and death in Somalia

Gordon was posted 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 the Battle of Mogadishu (1993), which began as a joint-force 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 crashed in the city. A combat search and rescue team was dispatched to the first crash site to secure it and a short time later a second Black Hawk, 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 while making their way to the first crash site.[2]

Gordon and his Delta Force sniper teammates Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart and Sergeant First Class Brad Halling, who were providing sniper cover from the air, wanted 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 three Delta snipers to effectively protect the Black Hawk 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 the Black Hawk crew could survive on their own, and repeated his request twice until he finally received permission. Halling had assumed control of a minigun after a crew chief was injured and was not inserted with Shughart and Gordon.[2]

Once on the ground, Gordon and Shughart, armed with only their personal weapons and sidearms, fought their way to the downed Black Hawk. By this time more Somalis were arriving, intent on either capturing or killing the American servicemen. When they reached Super Six Four, Gordon and Shughart extracted the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, co-pilot Ray Frank, and crew chiefs Bill Cleveland and Tommy Field from the aircraft, and established defensive positions around the crash site. Despite having inflicted heavy casualties on the Somalis, the two Delta snipers were outnumbered and outgunned. Their ammunition depleted, Gordon and Shughart were killed by Somali gunfire. It is believed that Gordon was the first to be killed. Shughart retrieved Gordon's CAR-15 and gave it to Durant to use. Shortly afterwards, Shughart was killed and Durant was taken alive. Immediately after the battle, the Somalis counted 25 of their own men dead with many more severely wounded. According to America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics, Gordon's "half-naked body was dragged horrifically through the streets of Mogadishu".

Gordon's body was eventually recovered and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Penobscot County, Maine.[4]

There was some confusion in the aftermath of the action as to the final moments of the firefight. The official citation states that Shughart had been killed first but Mark Bowden, author of , a book about the October 1993 battle, relates an account by Sergeant Paul R. Howe, another Delta commando fighting in the battle. Howe said that he heard Shughart call for help on the radio. Furthermore, Durant believed that the weapon handed to him was not the distinctive M14 used by Shughart but a CAR-15; Howe said that Gordon would never have given his own weapon to another soldier to use while he was still able to fight. In Durant's book, In the Company of Heroes, he states that Gordon was on the left side of the Black Hawk, after both he and Shughart moved Durant to a safer location, and only heard Gordon say, "Damn, I'm hit."[5] Durant acknowledged that he might have been wrong in his identification but was reluctant to push for the record to be changed since he was not sure.

After the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, United States Special Forces units were inserted into Afghanistan to assist the Northern Alliance forces in overthrowing the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. Following an intense mountain battle known as Operation Anaconda in March 2002, U.S. troops complex found a GPS unit and pouch labeled "G. Gordon". Intelligence analysts believed at first this was Gordon's GPS unit that he purchased on the private market and used in Somalia. The Gordon family was notified immediately of the find before the information was released to the public.[6] It ultimately turned out that it was not Gordon's GPS but one belonging to a helicopter pilot lost in an earlier fight during Operation Anaconda.[7] [8]

Honors and awards

MSG Gordon's personal decorations include:[9]

Combat Infantryman Badge with star
Medal of Honor
Purple HeartMeritorious Service MedalArmy Commendation Medal
Joint Service Achievement Medal with 1 Oak leaf clusterArmy Achievement Medal with 1 Oak leaf clusterArmy Good Conduct Medal with four bronze loops
National Defense Service Medal<--Ok to assume, given enlistment period-->Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal<--Ok to assume, I think-->Humanitarian Service Medal
Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with Award numeral 3Army Service Ribbon<--Ok to assume, I think-->United Nations Medal
French Army Mountaineering BadgeRoyal Danish Parachutist Badge
Master Parachutist BadgeMilitary Freefall Parachutist BadgeExpert Marksmanship badge with rifle component bar
Special Forces TabRanger Tab
Joint Meritorious Unit AwardValorous Unit Award

The U.S. Navy officially named a roll-on/roll-off ship in a ceremony at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, July 4, 1996, at Newport News, Virginia. Congressman John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, was the ceremony's principal speaker and Gordon's widow, Carmen Gordon, served as the ship's sponsor. 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.[10]

Gordon has been honored elsewhere as well. Gordon Elementary School in Linden Oaks, Harnett County, North Carolina, which opened in January 2009, was named in his honor. The school is near Fort Liberty, where Gordon was stationed before being deployed to Somalia.[11] In the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, LA, the main mock city is named Shughart-Gordon.

Medal of Honor

On May 23, 1994, both Gordon and Shughart posthumously received the Medal of Honor in recognition for the actions they took and the sacrifices they made to help protect the lives of 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.[12] Their medals were presented to their widows Stephanie Shughart and Carmen Gordon by Bill Clinton in a ceremony at the White House.[3]

Medal of Honor citation

In culture

In the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, Gordon was portrayed by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Marko Kloos’ novel, Lines of Departure (2014),[13] centers around a space fleet containing the military freighter "Gary I Gordon" and Gordon's heroic actions in Somalia are referenced.

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gary I. Gordon . https://web.archive.org/web/20140810125335/http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=211 . 10 August 2014 . October 5, 2014 . Veteran Tributes.
  2. Web site: February 12, 2010 . Memorializations . U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum . https://web.archive.org/web/20030315102112/https://www.soc.mil/swcs/museum/Gmemo.shtml . 15 March 2003 .
  3. Web site: May 23, 1994 . REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT PRESENTATION OF MEDAL OF HONOR POSTHUMOUSLY TO MASTER SERGEANT GARY GORDON AND SERGEANT FIRST CLASS RANDALL SHUGHART . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20010726220923/http://clinton6.nara.gov/1994/05/1994-05-23-president-at-presentation-of-medal-of-honor.html . July 26, 2001 . February 12, 2010 . White House Press Secretary.
  4. Archived
  5. Book: In The Company of Heroes: A True Story . Michael Durant . Durant . Michael J. . Hartov . Steve . . 2003 . 978-0-399-15060-9 . In the Company of Heroes .
  6. Web site: March 20, 2002 . Pentagon Briefing . https://web.archive.org/web/20220811040222/https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2002-03-20/segment/01 . 11 August 2022 . February 11, 2010 . CNN.
  7. News: Naylor, Sean D.. Army Times . Deadly Find: Soldiers capture cache of gear from downed U.S. helicopters on al-Qaida fighter they kill.
  8. News: February 11, 2010 . Gilmore, Gerry J. . Navigation Unit Found in Afghanistan Not U.S. Hero's . https://web.archive.org/web/20120414183724/http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=44229 . dead . April 14, 2012 . .
  9. Web site: Gary I. Gordon, Master Sergeant. veterantributes.org. August 27, 2022.
  10. USNS Gordon (T-AKR 296) Named after Medal of Honor recipient . July 3, 1996 . U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) . February 12, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100301232941/http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=976 . March 1, 2010 . No. 412-96.
  11. Web site: Brooks . Drew . Gordon Elementary: Dedicated to 'name of a hero' . . February 28, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170730071957/http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=319840 . dead . July 30, 2017 . March 2, 2009.
  12. Web site: August 3, 2009 . Medal of Honor recipients . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121222074108/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/somalia.html . December 22, 2012 . January 6, 2010 . United States Army Center of Military History.
  13. Book: Kloos, Marko . Marko Kloos . Lines of Departure (Frontlines) . 2014 . . 978-1477817407 . 328.