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WOW, this a chance to see a REAL LIVE AMERICAN HERO!!!! WHAT AN AMAZING MAN!
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May 10, 2008
Black Hawk Down Hero to be keynote speaker at Memorial Day parade
By Tom Briody —Memorial Day Parade Committee (Fairfield Connecticut area)
| Matthew “Matt” Eversmann, the keynote speaker for this year’s Wilton Memorial Day, was in the Battle of Mogadishu, which was dramatized by the motion picture “Black Hawk Down.”
He is also a veteran of the war in Iraq, and an accomplished public speaker who has lectured to colonels at the Army War College as well as cadets and faculty at West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy.
Sgt. Eversmann was born in 1966, the youngest of four children in a mainly military family. His father served in the U.S. Army, his sister was an Army nurse, and one of his older brothers was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. He grew up in Bay Shore, Long Island, with Jeff Turner, a lifelong friend, who is this year’s chairman of the Memorial Day parade.
In 1987, while attending Hampden-Sydney College, Sgt. Eversmann enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry. He was first stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., with the 10th Mountain Division. After re-enlisting in 1992, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Benning, Ga., and served for eight and one-half years as a squad leader, weapons squad leader, battalion air operations sergeant, battalion liaison sergeant and platoon sergeant. During that period, Sgt. Eversmann was also the officer in charge of the 75th Ranger Regiment’s Pre-Ranger Course that helped train future leaders to graduate from the Army Ranger School. While serving as a sergeant in the 75th Ranger Regiment, he traveled the world, from Panama to England and South Korea to Egypt, where he met and trained with soldiers around the globe.
In August 1993, Sgt. Eversmann and his Ranger company were deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, on the northeast coast of Africa, to support Operation Gothic Serpent. On Oct. 3, 1993, he played a vital role in a military mission that played out on the civil war-torn streets of Mogadishu. Sgt. Eversmann led a squad of 12 U.S. Army Rangers flown in by helicopter as part of a larger force ordered to capture top aides of the local Somalian warlord, Mohammed Farrah Aidid. This ill-fated mission, which lasted more than 18 hours, left 18 soldiers dead, another 73 wounded, and became the epic subject for the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”
After leaving Somalia, Sgt. Eversmann continued his service with the 75th Army Ranger Regiment until March 2000, when he was assigned to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. In August 2000 Sgt. Eversmann was awarded an honorary bachelor’s degree from Hampden-Sydney College, in recognition for his service to his country. He also attended and lectured at numerous military schools, and served as a master sergeant for the Johns Hopkins Army ROTC program from 2002 to 2005.
After his service with the Army ROTC, Sgt. Eversmann was assigned to 17 months of duty in Iraq with a military training and transition team. He was 1st sergeant for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, and served in combat with this U.S. Army unit, which was responsible for training Iraqi military personnel.
After 20 years of service, Sgt. Eversmann recently retired from the U.S. Army.
During his military service he attended and graduated from numerous military schools. He was the Leadership Award winner at Army Ranger School for the Primary Course and the Basic Course. For his service in Somalia he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He also wears the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Ribbon, eight Army Achievement Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, Meritorious Service Medal, Ranger Tab, Master Parachute Wings, Royal Thai Jump Wings, British Jump Wings, Egyptian Jump Wings, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Sgt. Eversmann continues to serve others as the founder and president of Freeman Philips LLC, a leadership development company. He lives with his wife, Victoria, and five-year-old daughter, Molly, in Sackets Harbor, N.Y.
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