SFC Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon

Army Aviation Hall of Fame 1995 Induction

Medal of Honor

Sergeant First Class Randall D. Shughart served as a Sniper Team leader in Task Force Ranger of the United States Special Operations Command in Mogadishu, Somalia during Operation Restore Hope.

On 3 October 1993, he functioned as a member of a Blue Team in a traditional Air Cavalry assault operation. While being subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires, his Team provided precision fires from the lead helicopter during an assault, and at two crash sites.

While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site.

Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, SFC Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission.

When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, SFC Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site.

Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, SFC Shughart and his team leader, 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.

Sergeant First Class Shughart then 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. SFC Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew.

Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life.

Sergeant First Class Shughart was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for this action.

"On the wall of the Special Forces Memorial Court at Ft. Bragg, the words of the prophet Isaiah are etched in stone: "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send and who will go for us?""
President William J. Clinton, May 23, 1994 The East Room 11:07 A.M. EDT