Thomas E. Matthews (born 1949) is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

who is best known for his commanding role in the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. During the Battle of Mogadishu, Matthews and a

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

officer, Lt. Col.

Gary Harrell Gary Lamar Harrell, affectionately known as "The Flea," (born January 23, 1972) is an American college football coach and former professional gridiron football player. He is currently the assistant head coach and running backs coach at the Univ ...

commanded from the helicopter Super 6-3 circling over the battle. Matthews was the commander of 1st Battalion,

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), abbreviated as 160th SOAR (A), is a special operations force of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for special operations forces. Its missions have include ...

, of which 5 members of his unit were killed when two Black Hawk Helicopters were shot down by the forces of Somali warlord

Mohamed Farrah Aidid Mohamed Farrah Hassan Aidid ( so, Maxamed Faarax Xasan Caydiid; ar, محمد فرح حسن عيديد; 15 December 1934 – 1 August 1996) was a Somali general and diplomat. Educated in both Rome and Moscow, he served as a chief in the Italian ...

. Matthews was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

for his actions in Somalia. Matthews was an adviser for the movie '' Black Hawk Down'' about the Battle of Mogadishu and was portrayed in the movie by

Glenn Morshower Glenn Morshower is an American character actor. He is best known for playing Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce in '' 24'' and Colonel (later General) Sharp Morshower in the ''Transformers'' film series. He has also appeared in many feature fil ...

. Matthews later retired from military service and works in the Office of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

at the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

. He currently resides in northern Virginia with his family.

References

Living people 1949 births United States Army colonels Military personnel from Philadelphia Drexel University alumni Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal Recipients of the Air Medal Battle of Mogadishu (1993) United States Army Special Operations Command {{US-mil-bio-stub