Above & Beyond
October 3, 1993
This is a diorama I did in 2004. After reading the Mark Bowden book "Black Hawk Down" and seeing the motion picture by Ridley Scott I felt compelled to do a tribute to the last soldiers (at that time) who received The Congressional Medal of Honor. Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart were two US Delta Force snipers who volunteered to go in and rescue the crew of Super 64 "Venom". The only survivor though was the pilot Mike Durant who was wounded and in need of help as he was being quickly over run by the Somalis. My scene shows the two snipers in the final moment of their heroic fight to save Durant and themselves. However, Durant was the only survivor and was taken prisoner by the Somalis where he was held for eleven days.