Kennett Square resident Mark Bowden – author of the bestselling book Black Hawk Down – recalled the Battle of Mogadishu 25 years later, as his work has become most associated with the deadly engagement, writes Luis Martinez for ABC News.

After being shot down in Mogadishu, a group of some of America’s most elite servicemen got trapped in a massive firefight. The images of that battle and scenes of the bodies of Americans being dragged through the streets were seared into the minds of millions of people.

Bowden was one of many journalists who were surprised to learn that there was still a military presence there at the time.

“I think the press had really stopped covering what was going on in Somalia after the bulk of American forces were withdrawn in the spring of 1993,” he said.

He got the idea for the book’s title while driving through Chester County and remembered he had heard the phrase “we have got a Black Hawk down” on recordings from the battle.

Since writing the book, Bowden has been “tremendously surprised and gratified” by the response. But he never imagined the book would have “the audience that it ultimately had.”

Read more about Mark Bowden and Black Hawk Down from ABC News here.

[uam_ad id=”80503″]

.

[uam_ad id=”80502″]