black hawk down survivor dies

Sixty four year-old retired Sgt. Maj. James McMahon died on November 5, 2019.
 
The 16-year veteran Army Ranger was aboard one of two Black Hawk helicopters shot down by rocket-propelled grenades in Somalia in August 1993. The book “Black Hawk Down”, by author Mark Bowden, introduces McMahon by describing his face as so battered and cut that “he looked like he was wearing a fright mask” as he pulled the body of a fellow soldier from the wreckage.
 
McMahon was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for valor.
 
McMahon retired from the Army in 2002, and then worked for a defense contractor. He had been a special operations instructor at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, since 2013