Never to Be Forgotten, Part 2

Gary Gordon was born in Lincoln, Maine in 1960. Master Sergeant (MSG) Gordon, U.S. Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on October 3, 1993 while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Gordon’s sniper team provided precision fire from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fire. When MSG Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site of Super 64, he and another sniper, Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the large and growing number of hostile Somalis closing in on the site.

After his third request to be inserted, Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, he was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Shortly after, the Blackhawk that had inserted Gordon and Shughart was hit by an RPG, but managed to crash land back at the U.S. controlled airport.

Equipped with only his sound-suppressed CAR-15 and Colt M1911 .45 caliber pistol, Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members of Super 64. He immediately pulled pilot Mike Durant and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position.

Gordon used his custom sniper rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers. He was down to his last magazine and had used half of it before he was fatally wounded. Fellow Delta sniper Shughart then took Gordon’s CAR-15 to Durant for him to use. Gordon’s actions saved the pilot’s life.