The Story Of Two Medal Of Honor Heroes Cuts To The Soul, Is A Reminder Of American Greatness
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart are names every American needs to know.
Tuesday is National Medal of Honor Day, and it's a moment for people to recognize, honor and celebrate America's greatest heroes.
The Medal of Honor is awarded only for the most extreme acts of heroism in combat. Generally speaking, things have gone horribly wrong if someone has to earn the MoH on a mission.
The story of MoH recipients Gordon and Shughart is among the most impressive and heartbreaking you'll ever hear.
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart were Delta Force snipers who earned the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Mogadishu. (Credit: United States Military/Public Domain)
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart are American heroes.
Gordon and Shughart were Delta Force snipers who deployed to Mogadishu as members of Task Force Ranger in 1993 to stop the genocide in Somalia.
Warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid was starving people to death, and the decision was made that the United States was going to go in and put an end to his evil. Nobody expected what would unfold on October 3 through October 4 in what has become known as Black Hawk Down.
Two Army helicopters were shot down during a daytime raid to capture high-ranking members of Aidid's clan. What started as a snatch-and-grab mission turned into unimaginable horror as Rangers and Delta Force operators found themselves trapped in a city turned loose against them.
Gordon and Shughart requested permission multiple times to insert into the crash site of 160th SOAR pilot Michael Durant.
After initially being denied, the two elite Tier One snipers were granted permission with one simple understanding:
They would be alone. Nobody would be able to save them.
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart are American heroes. (Credit: United States Army/Public Domain)
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It was a suicide mission, and yet, they still went to the crash site in order to save Durant's life. In the process, they fought wave after wave of Somalian militants.
Bullets rained down on them as they fought to the bloody and bitter end killing scores of enemy fighters at the crash site.
In the end, they both were killed at the Durant crash site, and the elite special operations pilot was eventually taken prisoner. Durant was later released and healed up from his injuries.
When you think about American exceptionalism, there's no selfless action that sums it up better than two Delta Force snipers knowing they were giving their lives, and doing so to give Durant a fighting chance.
Their heroic actions were immortalized in the hit film "Black Hawk Down."
People like to use the word "hero" far too much. It's gotten to the point that it's lost its meaning. If everyone is a hero, then nobody is a hero.
However, when it comes to what a real hero looks like, it's someone willing to do what Gordon and Shughart did in 1993.
Many of us probably would like to think we have that same kind of grit and bravery. In reality, very few do. Both of those men did, and they laid down their lives to protect a teammate facing imminent death.
It damn near makes you want to shed some tears.
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA: U.S. helicopter pilot Michael Durant is carried on a stretcher to the helicopter from the 46th Combat Support hospital on October 15, 1993. Durant was freed by supporters of Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid in Mogadishu on October14. (Photo: HOCINE ZAOURAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Be grateful men like Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart lived and were American citizens. They were cut from a different kind of cloth than the rest of us, and we shouldn't ever forget their sacrifice. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.