Editing Gary Gordon (section)

==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 [[UH-60 Black Hawk|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.<ref name=JFKMuseum/>

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 combatants 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.<ref name=JFKMuseum/>

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 Somali forces were arriving, intent on either capturing or killing the American servicemen. When they reached Super Six Four, Gordon and Shughart extracted the pilot, [[Warrant Officer (United States)|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 their attackers, 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, Mohammed's troops 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]].<ref name="congress record">{{USCongRec|1993|24615-24616}} [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1993-pt17/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1993-pt17-4-2.pdf Archived]</ref>

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 ''[[Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War]]'', 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 rifle|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.{{sfn|Bowden|1999|p=368}} 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."<ref name="Durant">{{Cite book |title=In The Company of Heroes: A True Story |author-link=Michael Durant |last1=Durant |first1=Michael J. |last2=Hartov |first2=Steve |publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam Publishing Group]] |year= 2003 |isbn=978-0-399-15060-9 |title-link=In the Company of Heroes }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Bowden|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/blackhawkdownsto00bowd_1/page/374 374]}}

After the terrorist attack on the United States on [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001]], United States [[United States Army Special Forces|Special Forces]] units were inserted into [[Afghanistan]] to assist the [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|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 [[Satellite navigation device|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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 20, 2002 |title=Pentagon Briefing |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/20/se.01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811040222/https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2002-03-20/segment/01 |archive-date=11 August 2022 |access-date=February 11, 2010 |publisher=[[CNN]]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Naylor, Sean D.|publisher= Army Times |title=Deadly Find: Soldiers capture cache of gear from downed U.S. helicopters on al-Qaida fighter they kill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |access-date=February 11, 2010 |author=Gilmore, Gerry J. |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/id/44229/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414183724/http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=44229 |url-status=live |archive-date=April 14, 2012 |publisher=[[American Forces Press Service]] |title=Navigation Unit Found in Afghanistan Not U.S. Hero's }}</ref>