30 years ago yesterday and today, a group of UN soldiers (including US Special Operations troops, and units from Malaysia and Pakistan) went out on a mission to capture high-ranking members of the Somali National Alliance (SMA) in Mogadishu.
Things went bad. Then they went very bad. When it was all over, 18 US soldiers had been killed, and another 73 were wounded. One Malaysian Army soldier and one Pakistani soldier were also killed.
Battle of Mogadishu from Wikipedia.
Also killed:
- Staff Sergeant Daniel Darrell Busch.
- Sergeant First Class Earl Robert Fillmore, Jr.
- Master Sergeant Timothy Lynn Martin.
- Sergeant First Class Matthew Loren Rierson.
- Corporal James E. Smith.
- Specialist James M. Cavaco.
- Sergeant James Casey Joyce.
- Corporal Richard W. Kowalewski, Jr.
- Sergeant Dominick M. Pilla.
- Sergeant Lorenzo M. Ruiz.
- Staff Sergeant William David Cleveland, Jr.
- Staff Sergeant Thomas J. Field.
- CW4 Raymond Alex Frank.
- CW3 Clifton P. Wolcott.
- CW3 Donovan Lee Briley.
- Sergeant Cornell Lemont Houston, Sr.
- Private First Class James Henry Martin, Jr.
- Lance Corporal Mat Aznan Awang (Malaysian Army, posthumously promoted to Corporal).
I have been unable to find a name for the Pakistani soldier who was killed.
Black Hawk Down is still a heck of a book, in my opinion. The movie’s pretty good, too, but I’m not going to stake my life on it being 100% accurate. (Though I do believe the movie makers tried very hard.)
“Folly and Redemption: Thirty Years After Black Hawk Down” from The American Conservative.