SOMALIA...

With their overhead protection gone, Gordon and Shughart found themselves desperately outnumbered by Somali gunmen swarming toward the hulk of Super 6-4. The pilot had vanished from the cockpit shortly after the crash, never to be seen alive again. The Delta pair managed to extract the badly injured co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, and lay him on the right side of the wreckage.

What happened next is uncertain. The shooting intensified as the Somalis, darting among the tin shacks, pressed to within 10 yards of the helicopter. Durant heard Shugart cry out from the other side of the helicopter: "I'm hit!" Gordon reappeared, handed Durant a rifle with a full ammunition clip and made a quick radio call for help before returning to defend the exposed left side.

After a brief lull, a tremendous volley of gunfire swept the clearing. Durant heard Gordon cry in pain -- then silence. Out of ammunition, the co-pilot laid his M-16 across his chest and waited for the mob that soon engulfed him.

For conspicuous gallantry in offering their lives to defend their comrades, Shugart and Gordon would be nominated for the Medal of Honor. Durant would survive 11 days in captivity to bear witness to their valor. The bodies of all five Americans slain near Super 6-4 would be desecrated by the Somalis, although, according to Army officials, subsequent autopsies indicated that the men had been shot dead before their corpses were defiled.

'Not Part of Mindset To Take Hostages'

Along Freedom Road around the first crash site, darkness had fallen. A half-dozen men labored futilely to extract pilot Wolcott's trapped body. A decision had been made by the Delta squadron commander and other officers, virtually without debate and with universal acquiescence, that this comrade would not fall into Somali hands.

Maka Mohamed listened to the Americans prying at the helicopter wreckage in the adjacent alley. She held a bandage to the forehead of her 6-month-old daughter, Ifrax, who had been grazed by a piece of metal or masonry when the plummeting Black Hawk caved in part of the living room wall. A few minutes later, soldiers had burst into the house and herded all of them -- Maka, her sister, her mother and six children -- into a back room. Whenever the old woman ventured into the courtyard to try to go to the bathroom, a soldier flicked on his flashlight to drive her back. The flashlight frightened her more than the guns.

Seeking shelter from the killing zone and a place to safeguard their wounded, the Americans had occupied four houses on Freedom Road. From each house, the Somali men had fled to join the battle, leaving their families behind. The soldiers groped about in the darkness. Anticipating a quick mid-afternoon mission, they had failed to bring their night vision goggles.

About 20 Somalis were detained in the four houses. The wails of terrified children mingled with the moans of wounded soldiers in adjoining rooms. In one house, an orange stucco structure where most of the Delta commandos had sheltered, several shrieking children were locked in a bathroom until the soldiers let them rejoin their mothers. One of those mothers, Fadimah Mohamed, would later assert that she and the other women had been handcuffed, a charge denied by the Americans.

U.S. commanders on the scene subsequently offered three concerns for holding the civilians: that they would be killed in the crossfire if they ventured outside; that they would give the militia information on the strength and location of American positions; and that some might join the Somali fighters, who already had numerous women and children in their ranks.

"If we could have taken those families and just moved them out of there, we would have," one senior officer later explained. "We obviously couldn't do that because it was as dangerous for them out there as it was for us. It's not part of our mindset to take hostages, especially women and children."

"There Are Women And Children in There"

Barely 200 yards away -- close enough that he would be slightly wounded in the neck and finger by stray shrapnel later in the evening -- Somali militia Col. Giumale sifted through battle reports from his subordinates with a sense of satisfaction.

After the initial call to arms, Giumale had stopped using the radio, aware that U.S. eavesdroppers could quickly pinpoint his headquarters. Instead, he relied on written messages and couriers. The news was mostly good: Casualties were high, very high, but American reinforcements had been driven off. Two helicopters had been shot down, and three others appeared to have been damaged. At 6:40 p.m., Giumale received written instructions from Aideed, hiding in a compound further east: Strengthen your lines, repel any reinforcements, take all measures necessary to prevent the Americans from escaping.

Giumale did not realize that the Americans had stayed to free the pilot's body. He assumed they were trapped. He estimated that 360 militia had encircled the first helicopter, along with hundreds of other armed Somalis. In truth, the irregulars had become a nuisance, getting in the way, demanding additional ammunition and water, burdening the militia's crude medical evacuation system.

The Americans, Giumale knew, were well-entrenched in defensive positions and had been resupplied with a bundle dropped by helicopter at 7 p.m. Some reports suggested they had set up defensive positions on roofs and even in the trees. The only way to obliterate them, he concluded, was with a mortar barrage. He ordered a half-dozen 60mm mortars emplaced above the northern perimeter, between 21 October Road and Armed Forces Street.

But at 9 p.m., circumstances changed dramatically. A militia officer appeared with eight men and women, relatives of those held captive in the four houses. They begged him not to destroy the houses. "Please don't do this," one man pleaded with Giumale. "There are women and children in there. You'll have to kill me first."

Giumale scribbled a dispatch to another militia commander, Col. Hashi Ali, recommending that mortars be held in abeyance except to harass U.S. reinforcements. His fighters would keep the pressure on -- he couldn't control the Somali irregulars anyway. But enough civilians had died already. In effect, the Rangers would be given a chance to escape. Later in the evening, Giumale received a reply indicating Aideed's consent to his plan.

U.S. officers who were later told of this account conceded that such a debate may have occurred. They also acknowledged that no mortar shells fell around the helicopter crash site that night.

But they disputed the notion that Somali mortars were either accurate or powerful enough to wipe out Task Force Ranger. They contended that U.S. anti-mortar radar and Little Bird gunships loitering overhead would have destroyed any mortar crew after firing a round or two. And they also noted that the Somali "hostages" were not used as shields during the eventual withdrawal.

'Quick Reaction Force Regroups, Tries Again'

The battle would wax and wane until well past dawn. In his office at the U.N. compound, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Montgomery, commander of conventional U.S. forces in Somalia, ordered the Quick Reaction Force from the 10th Mountain Division to regroup for another rescue attempt. Notwithstanding two combat tours in Vietnam, Montgomery would later admit, this evening was turning into the most stressful night of his life.

At Garrison's urgent request for "some tanks and some APCs {armored personnel carriers} ," Montgomery called the Pakistani and Malaysian commanders, asking to borrow their armor. He also called the Italian commander and asked him to dispatch several dozen tanks to Mogadishu from their base at Balad, 30 miles away. "I will only use your force if I have Americans in extremis," Montgomery promised.

The Italians complied -- after checking with Rome -- but their tanks would not be needed. The Quick Reaction Force mustered at the New Port with four Pakistani tanks and 28 Malaysian armored personnel carriers. At 11:15 p.m., a convoy of 70 vehicles headed north from the port, only to be ambushed repeatedly after swinging left onto National Street.

Plagued by confusion and a language barrier, the lead two Malaysian armored vehicles carrying an American squad subsequently turned south instead of north. They were destroyed by rocket-propelled grenade fire near the old presidential palace, killing a Malaysian driver and wounding several others. The American lieutenant in charge blew a hole in a wall surrounding an adjacent cluster of houses, then herded his men into the shelter of a courtyard. Saynab Mahmoud, a 24-year-old Somali who lived in the compound, stuffed her four petrified children under a bed, whispering words of reassurance until the intruders eventually left to fight their way back to the main force.

Farther north, a Quick Reaction Force unit, Alpha Company of the 14th Infantry's 2nd Battalion, battled through barricades and ambushes to reach Task Force Ranger at 1:55 a.m. There they remained until dawn, when a Humvee with a tow rope succeeded in prying apart the wreckage of Super 6-1 enough to extract pilot Wolcott's body.

Meanwhile, Charlie Company of the 14th Infantry's 2nd Battalion pushed south from National Street to search the wreckage of the other downed Black Hawk. Only a few blood trails suggested the fate of those who had fought to the death around Super 6-4.

By 7 a.m., after a ragged, exhausting retreat, all survivors had reached safety. At a makeshift aid station inside a stadium on 21 October Road, the able-bodied tended the injured, counted the dead and pondered what had gone wrong. The final tally would include 18 Americans and one Malaysian killed, plus 84 Americans and seven Malaysians wounded. Somali leaders put their losses at 312 killed and 814 wounded.

The final act played out Jan. 18. The last eight Somali prisoners in U.N. custody were released that Tuesday at 3 p.m in Mogadishu. Three Aideed lieutenants set loose were Omar Salad Elmi and Mohamed Hassan Awale, captured by Delta Force on Oct. 3, and Osman Ato, who had been seized by Delta in mid-September. On Jan. 20, they gathered with hundreds of other Somalis at the parade ground on Via Lenin in a boisterous rally to celebrate their new-found freedom.

The objective was clear. The lightning-quick raid by elite U.S. troops ended in minutes with the capture of 24 Somalis, including key aides of militia leader Mohamed Farah Aideed.

But then word came that an American helicopter had been shot down nearby, and soldiers set out to rescue the crew. A 15-hour firefight followed. Eighteen U.S. soldiers were killed and 84 wounded. Somali leaders say 312 were killed and 814 wounded on their side.

Here is how the intense combat of Oct. 3 and 4, 1993, unfolded, based on interviews with dozens of participants on both sides.

1) 3:40 p.m.

Two AH-6 gunships sweep over the target building from the north, followed by four MH-6 Little Birds, which set down next to the building. Four Delta commandos leap from each helicopter. Two MH-60 Black Hawks bring in 30 more Delta soldiers.

Most Delta soldiers go into the building, take 24 Somalis prisoner and herd them into a courtyard.

2) 3:45 p.m.

Immediately behind Delta Force came four more Black Hawks with Rangers, who rope down and take up positions around the building.

3) 4 p.m.

A ground convoy moves up to take away the prisoners.

4) 4:20 p.m.

Word comes that a Black Hawk has been shot down about 300 yards to the east. Lt. Tom DiTomasco heads for the wreckage with his rangers.

A few minutes later, Lt. Perry Perino, with a mixed force of Rangers and Delta Force troops, also heads east.

The convoy with the prisoners aboard tries to drive to the crash site, but is ambushed repeatedly and eventually returns to Mogadishu airfield with four dead soldiers and three dead Somalis.

5) 4:30 p.m.

A Little Bird helicopter lands next to the wreckage; two wounded Delta snipers are rescued. A few minutes later, a combat search-and-rescue Black Hawk hovers overhead and is hit with a rocket-propelled grenade as 15 Delta and Ranger reinforcements rope to the ground. The damaged copter returns to its airfield.

6) 4:30 p.m.

On the ground, about 90 U.S. soldiers converge on the crash site. Somali fighters rake the area with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. U.S. soldiers would remain in the area until dawn in a prolonged attempt to recover the pilot's body from the wreckage.

7) 4:40 p.m.

Another Black Hawk is hit overhead and crashes about a half-mile to the southwest. All four crewman apparently survive the crash. Only Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant lives through subsequent fighting. He is taken prisoner.

A third Black Hawk is demaged after it drops off two Delta Force snipers at this second crash site. The soldiers work their way to the wreckage but are killed after a 20-minute firefight.

8) 6 p.m.

With a growing number of wounded needing shelter, Rangers and Delta troops occupy several nearby houses, take the residents prisoner and await reinforcements from the Quick Reaction Force.

But the Quick Reaction Force, which met with repeated ambushes, didn't arrive for nine more hours. The map at bottom details the efforts of reinforcements to reach the soldiers near the crash site.

DELTA FORCE

Delta Force is the premier U.S. counter-terrorism unit. The first plan called for 50 commandos in Somalia, but as violence in Mogadishu escalated over the summer, the number grew to about 130.

THE MH-60 BLACK HAWK

Primary U.S. Army helicopter designed to move troops and their equipment quickly.

THE AH-6 AND MH-6 'LITTLE BIRD'

The AH-6 is a small, fast light-attack helicopter with a wide array of interchangeable weaponry. The MH-6 is the same craft, fitted to carry passengers rather than weapons.

SOMALI MILITIA

The irregularly organized Somali fighters primarily were armed with assault rifles. But most U.S. commanders underestimated the number of rocket-propelled grenades (above) and the threat they posed to helicopters.

U.S. military planners had anticipated the possibility of a Black Hawk helicopter being shot down by Somali militia. Just days earlier, U.S. forces had rehearsed a reaction plan for just such a scenario.

But on Oct. 3-4, Somali resistance proved so fierce that the plan to reach Task Force Ranger repeatedly was modified.

1) 3:45 p.m.

The Quick Reaction Force from the 10th Mountain Division was alerted to move from its compound at the Somali National University to the airfield. The soldiers took a circuitous route to avoid driving through hostile neighborhoods near the University.

2) 4:45 p.m.

Charlie Company of the Quick Reaction Force moved from the airfield in an effort to reach the site of the second Black Hawk crash. The unit was ambushed repeatedly and returned to the airfield.

3) 9 p.m.

The Quick Reaction Force then moved to the New Port of Mogadishu, where the Americans joined Malaysian armored personnel carriers, Pakistani tanks and a Ranger platoon.

4) 11:15 p.m.

The convoy of 70 vehicles moved through downtown Mogadishu, through a Pakistani checkpoint on Via Jen Daaud.

5) 12-2 a.m.

The force was ambushed repeatedly after turning onto National Street. After fighting its way through, the force split in two.

Alpha Company of the 14th Infantry's 2nd Battalion battled north through barricades and ambushes to reach Task Force Ranger at 1:55 a.m.

Charlie Company pushed south to search for the wreckage of the other Black Hawk. They found only a few blood trails at the site.

6) 7 a.m.

Shortly after dawn, the pilot's body was recovered from the wreckage of the first Black Hawk. The forces withdrew to a makeshift aid station inside the stadium.

 

From: TIME Domestic

February 28, 1994 Volume 143, No. 9

AMID DISASTER, AMAZING VALOR The untold story of the American troops who turned a calamitous foray in Mogadishu into an extraordinary lesson in military courage.

By KEVIN FEDARKO Reported by Bruce van Voorst/Washington

The Mogadishu street where Cliff Wolcott died on Oct. 3 last year doesn't even have a name. For Wolcott, one of 15 helicopter pilots who took part in the ill-fated operation aimed at capturing warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid, luck ran out when he spotted several armed Somalis firing rocket-propelled grenades at his Black Hawk attack helicopter. Turning the craft broadside to give his gunners a better shot, Wolcott became a perfect target. A grenade exploded into the side of the chopper. "Super six-one is going down," he yelled into his headset, "Six-one is going in." Those would be his last words. The crash of Wolcott's Black Hawk transformed what had been planned as a textbook operation to decapitate Somalia's most powerful warlord into the longest sustained fire fight American soldiers have endured since the Vietnam War. The human costs of that raid, which took the life of 18 Americans and wounded more than 75 others, altered the very nature of the U.S. peacekeeping mission in Somalia, shocking the American public and forcing from the President a promise to remove all U.S. troops by the end of March. Many of the details of that debacle are well known: the aborted mission to rein in Aidid, the desperate efforts of several relief convoys to reach and extricate the trapped Task Force Rangers and - above all, the capture, beating and humiliation of helicopter pilot Michael Durant. One part of the story has gone largely unreported, however: the 15-hour pitched battle that took place around the wreckage of Wolcott's chopper, an extraordinary display of valor by 99 men under calamitous circumstances. TIME has been told that two of those men who gave their life to protect Durant - Sergeant First Class Randall Shugart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon - have been recommended to receive the nation's highest award for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. In addition, more than a dozen other Rangers and airmen will soon be given special awards. During the past six weeks, more than 19 of these soldiers agreed to be interviewed, some for the first time. This is their story.

At 3:40 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3, six MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and eight MH-6 and AH-6 "Little Birds" headed for a building in southeastern Mogadishu where Aidid's henchmen were reported to be meeting. Within minutes, nearly 50 commandos from Delta Force, the premier U.S. counterterrorism unit, and several hundred Army Rangers had captured 24 of Aidid's closest colleagues. While helicopters from Task Force 160, the Army's special-operations air wing, fluttered overhead, the Rangers herded the prisoners into a nearby courtyard and awaited a ground convoy to take them away. Then came the radio report that would change everything: "One of the birds is down."

Karl Maier, 37, was at the controls of an unarmed MH-6 Little Bird helicopter when he spotted Wolcott's Black Hawk heeling over nose first. The stricken craft smashed into an alley about 500 yds. northeast of the target site the Rangers had first assaulted, its rotors chewing off the corner of a one-story building. Maier's decision was instantaneous. "I'm going in," he announced into his headset, and swung his aircraft toward the street corner. The space was so narrow that his blades barely cleared the houses on both sides as he set his bird on the ground.

The intersection was already filled with Somali fighters bombarding Wolcott's wreckage with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades. Facing directly into the enfilade, Maier's only defense was a light submachine gun, which he fired from the cockpit with his right hand. That left the pilot only his left hand to steady the chopper, while copilot Keith Jones struggled to load two injured Rangers aboard, then yelled at Maier to take off. Left behind were a handful of wounded Rangers, plus the bodies of Wolcott and his copilot, Donovan Briley, 33, of Little Rock, Arkansas.

As he ascended, Maier waved to a small detachment of Rangers led by First Lieut. Tom DiTomasso, 26, that had just fought its way from the original target near the Olympic Hotel. Surveying the scene, one of DiTomasso's younger infantrymen, Sergeant Anton Berendsen, 19, thought to himself, "For sure we are going to die."

Not far from the wreckage of Wolcott's chopper, pilot Dan Jollota was struggling to hold his aircraft steady while 15 Rangers "fast-roped" to the ground by sliding down a 40-ft. line at a rate only slightly more controlled than a free fall. In the cockpit, Jollota could hear the thunk-thunk-thunk of his rotors punctuated by the deadly whoosh of rocket-propelled grenades. With two Rangers still on the ropes, the chopper took a direct hit that chewed holes in a main rotor blade. The steel-nerved pilot bit off the impulse to flee. "It was remarkable," said a crewman aboard a nearby helicopter. "They just sat there as the RPGS whistled around them." Only when his men had slid to safety did Jollota begin limping back to base.

On the ground, the Rangers saw that Wolcott could not have crashed in a worse position. Smashed like a broken eggshell, the cockpit had hopelessly entangled the body of the pilot. To make matters worse, the craft had come to rest on a slight rise in the street, exposing anyone near it to the Somalis' devastating cross fire. "Dust got in my eyes from so many bullets popping off the walls," recalled Specialist John Waddell, 20. As the fusillade increased, the Rangers ripped up the bulletproof Kevlar mats from the floor of Wolcott's Black Hawk to fashion a makeshift bunker. The shield, however, provided only the barest protection, as Master Sergeant Scott Fales, 36, swiftly discovered. An Army special-forces medic who has saved 88 lives during his career, Fales was working on several wounded men when he felt himself slammed to the street. A bullet had ripped through his leg. Hunkering down next to the wreckage, he quickly bandaged the wound and then resumed tending his comrades.

While Fales divided his attention between saving lives and fighting off the Somalis - "I'd fire a few rounds to push them back, then put my rifle across my lap and turn around to do my medical duties" - several Rangers pulled at the crumpled wreckage to free Wolcott and the copilot. To no avail: it would eventually take a humvee with a towrope to pry the bodies free. Meanwhile, Somalis pressed ever closer, poking their weapons around doorways and firing blindly into the street.

By then the Rangers could hear radio reports that a relief force led by Lieut. Colonel Danny McKnight, 42, was trying to smash its way through to them. They listened anxiously as a column of humvees and lightly armored trucks came within several blocks of their position - and was forced to turn back because of repeated ambushes and heavy casualties.

As bullets ricocheted murderously off the alley walls, the men decided it would be suicidal to remain on the street. Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Bray, 27, kicked in the door of a house, one of several buildings the soldiers would eventually occupy. For the next 12 hours, the pilots of Task Force 160 would provide the only lifeline keeping these besieged Rangers and Delta Force troops alive. Dropping to rooftop level in the face of intense fire, the Little Birds repeatedly emptied their rotating machine guns, then flitted back to the airport. Several pilots flew as many as nine missions; not one could recall a fight so ferocious that the fuel lasted longer than the ammunition.

The audacity of the Task Force 160 pilots astounded the men trapped below. Despite the fact that the airmen had already seen two Black Hawks destroyed and one damaged so badly that it barely made it back to the airport, the pilots refused to back off. Waddell, whose platoon suffered 70% casualties, described the airmen's performance as "breathtaking, an incredible display of heroism. Those guys knew that without their help, we weren't going to make it out."

When the Rangers radioed for gun support, the pilots would zoom in to plant a tracer round or two in the street. Then the Rangers would call back a correction in aim, sometimes directing fire as close as 15 ft. from their positions, and the gunships would return for a serious pass. As one Little Bird whizzed by, its guns blazing, Bray felt dozens of hot projectiles striking his body. "I thought I'd had it," he recalled. It took Bray several seconds to realize it was not bullets raining down on him but the brass casings pouring out of the chopper's twin Gatling guns.

Sheltered in a warren of houses and courtyards, Bray and his men now faced another complication: more than a dozen Somali women and children who were huddling, terrified, against the walls. Fearing that if the civilians were released they would either be killed in the street or serve as spotters for Somali sharpshooters, the Rangers corralled the Somalis in a back room. Somalis would later charge that the Americans were using women and children as hostages. In fact, say the soldiers, the reverse was true: "We were under such tight rules of engagement that we couldn't effectively return fire," said Black Hawk pilot Mike Goffena. "Even when we knew there were bad guys, we wouldn't shoot if civilians were in the way."

As casualties rose, the medics were forced to dart from one stricken soldier to another. Crouched near the wreckage of Wolcott's chopper, Fales suddenly spotted five grenades sailing over a wall in his direction. Yelling to warn his comrades, he threw his body over two wounded soldiers to shield them from shrapnel. Meanwhile, Technical Sergeant Tim Wilkinson, 36, a Special Forces medic, also nestled next to the downed helicopter, heard a call from the other side of the street. It was Bray; his men needed medical attention. Yelling across the street for them to "lay down some cover," Wilkinson grabbed his medic's bag, put his head down and ran. He didn't even bother to bring his rifle. "It's just like stealing a base in baseball," he said of the 45 yds. of open street raked by enemy fire through which he sprinted. "Once you make the decision to go, you just go." In the next several hours, he would dodge death in this manner two more times.

It was nearly dawn when the U.N. armored relief column finally punched its way through to the cornered troops. One by one, the Rangers and Delta Force men slipped from doorway to doorway to reach the comparative safety of the rescue vehicles. As Black Hawk pilot Jerry Izzo headed for his bunk in the room he had shared with Cliff Wolcott, he glanced at his fallen friend's bed. The blankets were turned down, and on the pillow lay a paperback novel, still open at the page Wolcott had been reading the previous afternoon. "I closed my eyes," Izzo remembers, "and I could hear Cliff's voice."

Major Participants

(From Mogadishu! Heroism and Tragedy by Kent DeLong and Steven Tuckey, Praeger, 1994 *not complete)

Jones, Chief Warrant Officer Randy -Task Force Ranger Pilot of his "little bird" attack helicopter Barber 51.

Matthews, Lieutenant Colonel Tom -Air Mission Commander from the 160th Special Aviation Regiment.

Garrison, Major General William -Task Force Ranger commander.

Aidid, General Mohammed Farid -Somalian warlord and target of the United Nations manhunt, in general, and October 3 mission in specific.

Cugno, Major Ron -STAR wing assault commander flying MH-6 "little bird" helicopter.

Wade, CW3 Hal -Co-pilot and wing leader for Jones in "little bird" attack helicopter.

Kulsrud, Chief Warrant Officer Larry -Pilot of "Little Bird" attack helicopter Barber 52.

Wolcott, Cliff -75th Ranger and Blackhawk Super 61 pilot shot down on October 3 after inserting Delta Force troops at target site.

Goffena, Michael -75th Ranger and Blackhawk Super 62 pilot and part of the insertion team.

Perino, Lieutenant Larry -3rd Ranger Battalion, B Company platoon and mission chalk position leader.

Steele, Captain Mike -3rd Ranger Battalion and B Company commander.

Durant, Michael -160th Regiment Blackhawk helicopter Super 64 pilot shot down and held captive by Somalis for 10 days.

DiTomasso, Lieutenant Tom -3rd Ranger Battalion B Company platoon and mis-sion chalk position leader.

Cleveland, Sergeant Bill -Durant's Super 64 crew chief.

Fields, Sergeant Tommie -Durant's Super 64 crew chief.

Eversman, NCO Sergeant Matthew -Ranger platoon leader inserted at target building.

Elliott, Sergeant Charles -Ranger at target building.

Heard, Private First Class Brian -Ranger at target building who was ordered to shoot armed, threatening Somalis.

Briley, Donovan -Wolcott's co-pilot who died in the downing of his Super 61 Blackhawk.

Jollota, Dan -160th Regiment and pilot of the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter who first was at Wolcott's crash site.

Lamb, Sergeant First Class Al -CSAR insertion team lead in Jollota's chopper.

Belda, Sergeant Mark -Weapons team member in CSAR chopper.

Maier, Chief Warrant Officer Karl -Pilot of STAR 41 "little bird" MH-6 gunship that aided Wolcott rescue effort.

Jones, Chief Warrant Officer Keith -Maier's co-pilot who aided in Wolcott rescue effort.

Ward, Hal -Crew member of the "little bird" gunship.

Belman, Sergeant John -CSAR soldier in Jollota's craft.

Stebbins, Specialist John -CSAR soldier in Jollota's chopper sent to aid rescue efforts at downed Wolcott helicopter site.

McKnight, Lieutenant Colonel Danny -3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger regiment-leader of the truck convoy that was to remove captives from the target building, but was diverted to failed rescue attempt at Wolcott crash site.

Powell, Sergeant Bill -75th Ranger Regiment in charge of McKnight ground convoy fire support team.

Carlson, Private First Class Tory -Part of McKnight ground convoy.

Cavaco, Corporal James -Mark 19 gunner in McKnight ground convoy shot and killed.

Pringle, Sergeant Michael -Ground convoy machine gunner.

Galleher, Sergeant Bob -Ground convoy driver.

Joyce, Corporal James J. -Killed in McKnight ground convoy rescue attempt.

Weaver, Sergeant Aaron -Ground convoy driver.

Williamson, Sergeant Aaron -Ranger in a blocking position at the target house who was shot when he was on a mission to rescue other soldiers in danger at the Wolcott crash site.

Smith, Corporal James -Ranger fatally shot trying to aid at Wolcott crash site.

Blackburn, Sergeant Todd -Chalk Four Ranger who was injured in original insertion.

Ruiz, Sergeant Lorenzo -Killed in the ground convoy.

Kowaleski, Private First Class Richard -Ranger killed in the ground convoy.

Warner, Sergeant Mark -Ranger trying to assist the ground convoy.

Fillmore, Sergeant First Class Earl -Ranger killed in attempt to reach Wolcott crash site.

Boorn, Sergeant Kenneth -Ranger shot in first attempt to reach Wolcott crash site.

Rodriguez, Specialist Carlos -Ranger shot in first attempt to reach Wolcott crash site.

Goodale, Sergeant Mike -Ranger fire control officer taking part in first attempt to reach Wolcott crashsite.

Frank, Ray -Slain co-pilot in Durant's doomed Super 64 Blackhawk.

Hall, Sergeant Mason -Door gunner in Goffena Super 62 Blackhawk.

Field, Tommie -Slain crew chief in Durant's doomed Super 64 Blackhawk.

Gordon, Master Sergeant Gary -Delta Force sniper killed in attempt to rescue Durant. Later awarded Medal of Honor.

Shughart, Sergeant First Class Randy -Delta Force sniper killed in attempt to rescue Durant. Later awarded Medal of Honor.

Shannon, Crew Chief Paul -Crew chief in Goffena's Blackhawk Super 62.

Yacone, Captain Jim -Goffena's co-pilot.

Halling, Bradley -Sniper in Goffena's Super 62 Blackhawk.

David, Lieutenant Colonel William -Commander of 10th Mountain Quick Reaction Force.

Flaherty, Lieutenant Michael -QRF medic.

Casper, Colonel Lawrence -10th Mountain Aviation Brigade commander.

Harold, Lieutenant Colonel Bill -Delta Force commander.

Gile, Brigadier General Greg -10th Mountain Division commander.

Whetstone, Captain Mike -10th Mountain QRF Charlie Company commander.

Montgomery, Major General -10th Mountain commander who led the multinational effort to rescue trapped Rangers at the two helicopter crash sites.

Carroll, Sergeant -Wounded QRF soldier rescued by Sergeant Doody in first ill-fated rescue attempt.

Pamer, Private First Class Eugene -QRF soldier shot in first ill-fated rescue attempt; Silver Star recipient.

Knight, Sergeant Richard -QRF soldier in first ill-fated rescue attempt.

Durant, Lorrie -Wife of Michael Durant who kept home fires burning waiting for his return from captivity.

Gore, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lee -Commander of 10th Mountain "Raven" attack helicopter company.

Neely, Jim -Pilot in "Raven" company.

Nixon, Major Craig -Liaison from Task Force Ranger to QRF.

Aspin, Les -Secretary of Defense until January of 1994.

Powell, General Colin -Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff through 1993.

Doody, First Sergeant Gary -Charlie Company soldier who received numerous awards for valor under fire.

Hollis, Lieutenant Mark -QRF Alpha Company platoon leader stranded in a wrong-way convoy.

Meyerowich, Captain Drew -QRF Alpha Company commander sent to Wolcott crash site rescue effort.

Moores, Lieutenant Larry -Ranger who helped lead a hastily assembled convoy to rescue survivors at Wolcott crash site.

Warner, Sergeant Mark -Ranger who helped lead a hastily assembled convoy to rescue survivors at Wolcott crash site.

Mita, First Sergeant David -l0th Mountain Alpha Company NCO sent to rescue Rangers at Wolcott crash site.

Martin, Private First Class James -l0th Mountain soldier who died on way to Wolcott crash site rescue.

Howard, Lieutenant Colonel Bill -Special Forces officer who accompanied QRF rescue effort to Wolcott crash site.

Liles, Sergeant First Class John -Senior medic for 160th Aviation Regiment.

Adams, Dr. Bruce -l60th Regiment surgeon key to hospital operations after the mission.

Borton, Tommie -Adams's medic assistant.

March, Dr. Bruce -Special Forces surgeon who helped set up casualty collection point near the airport's tarmac.

Uhorachak, Major John -Army orthopedic surgeon helping to staff field hospital that day.

Martin, Master Sergeant Tim "Grizz" -Special Forces soldier killed in action.

Simpson, Staff Sergeant Michael -Forward Area Rearming and Refueling Point chief armament technician.

Harrison, Chuck -Pilot.

Seipel, Specialist John -QRF soldier shot but not seriously injured when Crash Site One rescue convoy pulled out Monday morning.

DeJesus, Specialist Melvin -Ranger who was stranded at Wolcott crash site.

Houston, Sergeant Cornell -QRF soldier who was killed in action.