Ferdinan C. Richardson
Ferdinan Cabebe Richardson was born 19-APR 1966 in the Philippines. He lived in Watertown New York.
He enlisted in the Army on 8 Aug 1985. Sgt. Ferdinan C. Richardson was an intelligence analyst with the 10th Mountain Division’s 10th Aviation Brigade.
Operation Restore Hope was a United States-led operation in Somalia from 1992 to 1993. The operation’s goal was to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Somalia, who were suffering from famine and civil war.
He was one of five soldiers who boarded a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on the night of Sept. 26 to investigate a report that launchers had been deployed near the new port area of the city.
As he scanned the area below, ground fire reached up to strike the fast-moving helicopter. The pilot managed to crash-land the Black Hawk in a street. Ferdinan Richardson, the door gunner and the crew chief were killed; the pilot and co-pilot were injured but escaped the hostile mob that gathered at the crash site.
He gave his life trying to protect his fellow soldiers from the threat of rocket-grenade launchers that were concealed by Somali militiamen in the back streets of Mogadishu.
Ferdinan C. Richardson was killed in action during Operation Restore Hope on 25-Sep 1993. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.