In late 1992, civil war and clan-based fighting, along with the worst African drought of the century created famine conditions that threatened one-fourth of Somalia's population with starvation. In August, the United Nations began a peacekeeping mission to assure the distribution of food and medical aid to the country.

On December 4th due to quickly deteriorating security and the U.N. troops' inability to control Somalia's warring factions, United States' President George Bush ordered 25,000 U.S. troops into Somalia. He said, "it's a humanitarian mission, and our mission is to get in there and open up these corridors and provide humanitary relief." - January 1, 1993

"Operation Restore Hope" remained unresolved when Bill CLINTON took over the presidency on January 20, 1993. President CLINTON was anxious to bring the American troops home. In May the mission was formally handed back to the U.N. and by June, only 4,200 troops remained.

On June 5th, 24 Pakistani U.N. peacekeepers were ambushed and massacred while conducting an inspection of a weapons site, the ambush led by soldiers under the command of Somalia warlord General Mohammed AIDID. Subsequently, U.S. and U.N. forces began an extensive search for AIDID and his troops. In August, 400 elite U.S. troops from Delta Force and the U.S. Rangers arrived on a mission to capture them. In October, eighteen of these soldiers were killed and eighty-four wounded during a disastrous assault on Mogadishu's Olympia Hotel during their search for AIDID. The seventeen-hour battle was the most violent U.S. combat firefight since the Vietnam War. Three days later, President CLINTON cut his losses, ordering a total U.S. troop withdrawal, which occurred on March 25, 1994. AIDID was never captured. - The History Channel

NAME	RANK/GRADE	BRANCH	HOMETOWN	DATE of BIRTH	DATE of CASUALTY
MOSIER SSgt. Mike Edward MOSIER	Aerial Gunner	USAF	Mount Ayr	circa 1961	14 Mar 1994 Indian Ocean off coast of Kenya

 

Remembrance, Washington, D.C., by Sharon R. Becker, 2004

Compiled by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2009