We have everything from small-caliber pistols to belt-fed machine guns. So now, lets talk about the build. Both men's bodies were recovered. 1st Class Randy Shughart were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions to secure the site of one of . You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to use this website. Master SergeantGary Ivan Gordon was born on August 30, 1960, and died on October 3, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia. As for the Shughart M14, its an extremely iconic weapon, and Im proud to have one that resembles that legendary rifle. The M14 rifle is used by Delta Force Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart (Johnny Strong), most notably when he and MSG Gary Gordon (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) are covering the second crash site. 1st Class Randall D. Shughart and Master Sgt. Once on the ground, they were armed with only their weapons and sidearms. I pulled up a picture on Google of where the stripes were and attempted to match it. Shughart [L] and Gordon [R]. The ceremony was presided over by President Bill Clinton and attended by the families. Gary I. Gordon, for their actions on Oct. 3, 1993. On the beach near the base, a memorial was held for those who were killed in combat." 22 You are not fit to command."[13]. In the ensuing battle two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were shot down. Helicopter with call sign Super 61 (Super Six One). It wasn't a scream or a plea, just a statement of fact, like someone who'd nicked himself with a vegetable knife. "I don't know if someone was trying to clean it or [refresh] it. In 1993, Gordon's body was eventually buried and brought back to his hometown in Maine. Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart had crept up along the side of the helicopter and poked their heads into the cockpit. Instead of being buried in Arlington National Cemetery, his mother, Betty, said he would have "wanted to. The events of this mission have been well documented in the book Blackhawk Down, and the movie of the same title that was based on the book. Citation: Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Shughart's body was eventually recovered and is buried in Westminster Cemetery, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Gordon (1960-93) was born in Lincoln, Maine, a mill town of 5,000 nestled in the northern forests. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. Their aim was to capture key allies of the powerful Somali warlord, Gen Mohamed Farah Aideed. I purchased an M1A with the sole purpose of creating a clone look-a-like rifle that matched the visual appearance of the M14 from the movie Black Hawk Down that was carried by the actor Johnny Strong as he played the role of Randy Shughart on screen. Elements of the Rangers are left to run to a rendez-vous point . The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly gungiveaways! Their 'Go bag'. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. [55] If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Get instant access to exclusive stock lists, expert market analysis and powerful tools with 2 months of IBD Digital for only $20! Gary I. Gordon and Randall D. Shughart were true warriors and the finest American heroes. It was of crew chief Cleveland. [3], Mission commanders denied Gordon's request twice,[1] saying that the situation was too dangerous for the snipers to protect the crew from the ground. Like I said earlier, I didnt do anything that wasnt strictly aesthetic. "If anyone has any information about who did this, maliciously or with honorable intent, please contact us," the department said, adding that, "if you are the person who did this and did it as purely an act of vandalism, do the right thing and turn yourself in. The full "rescue scene" with Shugart and Gordon in HQ. Gary Gordon and Randall Shughart were deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia as part of Task Force Ranger. The ceremony was attended by a number of officers and politicians including Shughart's commanding officer at the time of his death; John W. Douglass, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition; Senator Bob Kerrey; and others. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, good luck. Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight . Randall Shughart was a US Army Delta Force soldier. SHUGHART-GORDON VILLAGE. Ownership data provided by Refinitiv and Estimates data provided by FactSet. Durant suffered a crushed vertebra in his back and a compound fracture of his left femur. Halling stayed behind to man a door gun as one of the helicopter's gunners had been wounded. Delta Force operatives dont typically wear a uniform and, even when they do, the nature of that uniform is classified and no one outside of the Unit would be able to recognize it. Mission commanders denied their request; in fact, they said that the situation was already too dangerous for the three Delta snipers to effectively protect the Blackhawk crew from the ground because overwhelming Somali militias outnumbered them. In December 1983, Shughart returned to active duty and the following year attended Special Forces training. Sergeant First Class Shugharts extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army. With the ARMS #18 mount and the Aimpoint PRO installed, we are now about 90% of the way to the finished product. Were the bodies of Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon recovered? Without a doubt, they saved my life. Shughart retrieved Gordon's CAR-15 and gave it to Durant to use. He and Shughart were lowered to the ground, while their comrade Sergeant First Class Brad Halling stayed aboard to man a machine gun. By this time, more Somali militiamen were arriving intent on either capturing or killing the American servicemen. It was second ship to undergo conversion from a commercial container vessel to a Large Medium Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off (LMSR) sealift ship. He chose to be a husband and father and never wavered in those roles. Randy Shughart/Place of burial. Shughart was assigned to 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) and transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 1986. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Despite having inflicted heavy casualties against the Somalis, the two Delta snipers were too outnumbered and outgunned. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. 1st Class Randy Shughart were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions to secure the site of one of the Black Hawk crashes to recover survivors. Master Sgt. ", Chun said, "One removed the three other severely injured crew members, while the other provided covering fire and then they quickly assessed their situation. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. I made a video about cloning the Gordon Carbine, too. Both Shughart and Gordon were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their selfless sacrifice, the first time it had been awarded since the Vietnam war. After all that is said and done, the build is complete. During the assault, one of the Army's Black Hawk helicopters was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Sign up for notifications from Insider! It also should be noted that Shughart would have had an older Aimpoint, probably the Aimpoint 2000 according to my findings. He was a soldier in the United States Army special operations unit, the 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force). Shugart was the first one to be mortally wounded at about the same time he ran out of ammo. Available Ranger forces on the ground could not assist the downed helicopter crew of the second crash site as they were already engaged in heavy combat with Somalis militia and making their way to the first crash site. Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon fought their way to the downed Blackhawk. Vehicles roll out of the city. The showdown pitted 160 special operations soldiers arriving in 19 helicopters and 12 vehicles against 3,000 Aidid men. Two years later, the government of Somalia was overthrown and a civil war erupted. The story of courage and self-sacrifice is best portrayed in the heroic story of MSG Gordon and SFC Shughart. The USNS Shughart is currently the lead ship in her class, and is capable of carrying 48 track vehicles, 58 tanks, and over 900 trucks and other wheeled vehicles. The USNS Gordon is currently operated by the US Navys Military Sealift Command in Washington, D.C. Gary Gordon and Sgt. [2] Several months later, he completed a pre-ranger course (currently known as SURT, Small Unit Ranger Tactics), was granted a slot to attend Ranger School, graduated, and earned the Ranger Tab. Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant was already defending the aircraft with an MP5 but was unable to move from his chair due to a crushed vertebra in his back and a comminuted fracture of his left femur. Required fields are marked *, Visit our friends and partners at Nortrack for tracking and other tactical training. Gordon's body was eventually recovered and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Penobscot County, Maine. Shughart was buried in Carlilse, Pennsylvania and Gordon in Penobscot County, Maine. When the smoke had cleared, its said that there were 25 dead Somali attackers scattered around the site. Mission commanders felt it too dangerous and believed the snipers would be of more assistance in the air. Both mens bodies were recovered. Both operators died in the battle. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. He and his future wife, Carmen, met when she was visiting her grandparents, and they engaged in a three-year correspondence after he joined the Army. Dylan Casey is a gun enthusiast with a digital media degree who is GunSpot's Creative Director. On 24 July 1996, Aidid and his men clashed with the forces of former allies Ali Mahdi Muhammad and Osman Ali Atto. As a Delta Force operator, he advanced to Assistant Team Sergeant. Were they given back along with the surviving pilot? In 1989, Gordon was with the outfit in Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama to capture its dictator, Manuel Noriega. Aidid suffered a gunshot wound in the ensuing battle. He joined the Boy Scouts and played football in high school, graduating in 1978. Gary Gordon, a Special Forces soldier was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Mogadishu. When his other family needed him, he did not hesitate, as he would not have hesitated for us.". The mission ultimately culminated in what became known as the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. Master Sergeant Gordons extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army, Gordons citation says. In the movie, which was released in 2001, it looks as if the rifle has a split rail mount. While its believed Gordon was the first to die, the official version states it was Shughart. In December 1986, Gordon volunteered to join the 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D), better known as Delta Force. A smoke grenade gave Gordon and Shughart some cover as they fought their way 100 yards through a shantytown to the downed craft. Your email address will not be published. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. After their wedding came a son, Ian, then a daughter, Brittany. In 1992, a cease-fire opened the way for the United Nations to deliver food, protected by a coalition that included U.S. troops. In 1993, Somalia was ravaged by civil war, which destroyed the countrys agriculture. By the fall of 1992, the nation of Somalia was war-torn and ravaged by famine. The Army task force did capture Aidid's advisers, but at high cost. Both Delta snipers, Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, are portrayed in the Hollywood blockbuster Black Hawk Down. Gary Gordon. He initially served with the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces, then became a sniper for the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, better known as Delta Force an elite Army anti-terror unit. On Oct. 14, 1993, in rain as the population of Lincoln stood by in honor, Gordon was buried in his uniform in a flag-filled cemetery. On October 3, 1993, during Operation Gothic Serpent, an assault mission to apprehend advisers to Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the Black Hawk helicopter with the call sign Super Six-One was shot down in the city. News outlets broadcasted searing images of mobs dragging the bodies of dead Army Special Operators and helicopter crewmen . Once he committed to something, the way was clear. No doubt about it, the rifle in the movie is a full-length M14, similar to the Standard Issue M1A. views and opinions of Springfield Armory. Let me say when it came to my build, I made it match the M14 seen in the film the best I could, rather than what Shugharts rifle would have actually been like. The first thing you need is an M1A, of course. With all of the ground forces still trying to help Super Six-One, there was no one left to help at the crash site of Super Six-Four. They volunteered for sniper cover for Super 6-4 - the second downed Black Hawk MH-60L - during the [] Traduzioni in contesto per "first to be killed" in inglese-italiano da Reverso Context: Ding's seventeen-year-old son, Jiang Jielian (), was one of the first to be killed when the People's Liberation Army crushed the Tiananmen Square protests. and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Shughart returned to the battle alone and was killed shortly after. The infamous picture of the US Soldier being dragged shirtless through the street was not either of the CAG Snipers. SEAL Team 6, officially known as United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), and Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), are the most highly trained elite forces in the U.S. military. As they monitored the downing of the 2nd Blackhawk it was evident that ground forces would not be available anytime soon to secure the crash site and protect the crew of four, whom all survived the crash. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider The only way to rescue survivors was for the Gordon-Shughart-Hallings copter to go in. During Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia, Durant was the pilot of helicopter Super Six Four. His was the second MH-60L of two Black Hawk helicopters to crash during the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3, 1993. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Raid: How Delta Force Took Out Notorious Terrorist? The battle was a disaster for coalition troops and resulted in a major strategic victory for Somali National Alliance forces, with American, Malaysian and Pakistani forces suffering heavy losses. Ray Dowdy and Staff Sgt. . How many Delta Force died in Black Hawk Down? Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crews weapons and ammunition.