A Faith Forged in Fire: Fort Rucker’s National Day of Prayer Breakfast

FORT RUCKER, Ala.-- Since 1953, eggs, coffee and faith have been shared across the country on the National Day of Prayer. Fort Rucker honored that tradition May 7, filling The Landing for the 2026 National Day of Prayer Breakfast.

After the opening of prayers for our nation, military and its leaders, retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dale Shrader, the guest of honor, recounted a story forged in the fires of combat. His message came 32 years after a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) downed his Black Hawk helicopter in the streets of Somalia just prior to the Battle of Mogadishu, the infamous “Black Hawk Down” firefight that would happen just eight days later.

It was not a message of military tactics or earthly glory, but one of steadfast faith, devastating loss and divine intervention.

“The most important message I want you to hear is that God loves you,” Shrader told the audience at the Landing on Fort Rucker. “From the private in the room to the general, and the contractor to the civilians. God loves each one of you.”

Sept. 25, 1993, then Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shrader and his co-pilot, Fort Rucker’s own Perry Alliman, were flying a routine mission above the city. Their objective was to monitor the streets and deter insurgent attacks against allied installations. In the back of the aircraft were crew chief Eugene Williams, door gunner Matt Anderson, and Sgt. 1st Class Ferdinand Richardson, an intelligence noncommissioned officer from Fort Drum who had been in the country for only three weeks.

Flying low over a hostile area at roughly 100 feet, their helicopter was rocked by an explosion. An RPG had struck the aircraft’s number one fuel cell.

“Because it was such an intense heat, which I still feel today thinking about it, there was a flame that came over,” Shrader recalled. Losing all control of the aircraft, he made a split-second, miraculous maneuver to flare the helicopter, crashing it into the only open intersection in that part of the city.

“Otherwise, if we landed on top of a building or against a building, we both would have been killed,” he said. Shrader broke his wrist in the crash but managed to escape the burning wreckage. He found Alliman bleeding heavily from a facial wound and dragged his co-pilot into a nearby alleyway to hide. Tragically, the fierce flames engulfing the cockpit doors prevented Schrader from reaching Williams, Anderson, and Richardson. All three crew members tragically perished in the crash.

What followed in the dark alleyway was a true test of survival. Armed with only his M9 pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition, Schrader defended his wounded co-pilot against approaching hostile forces. At one point, a Somali fighter threw a grenade directly into their stairwell hiding spot.

Shrader braced for the end.

“It didn't go off,” Shrader said, the weight of the memory still heavy in his voice. Assuming he was going to die that night, Shrader prayed what he believed would be his final prayer, asking God to protect his wife, Shanna, and asking for forgiveness for not sharing his faith with more people.

“At that point, there was a peace that came over me,” Shrader said. “It was okay. I was going to be okay. God was going to take care of us.”

Shortly after, a United Arab Emirates armored personnel carrier broke through, whisking them away to safety as bullets ricocheted off the armor.

For Shrader, surviving the crash was a pivotal moment of his faith journey that had begun years earlier in South Korea. Devastated by an unexpected divorce during his first assignment, a broken Schrader found solace through a friend, Bill Mason, who gently introduced him to the Christian faith by actions and by words. That foundation of faith guided him through and to his second marriage to fellow Soldier Shanna and sustained him in the darkest places of Mogadishu.

While recovering in the hospital with Alliman, the two pilots had an agreement.

“We made a promise. If one person came to the knowledge of Jesus through this story, then it was all worth it. The scars, the burns, the PTSD, the memories,” Shrader said. He also vowed never to let the world forget the ultimate sacrifice made by Williams, Anderson, and Richardson.

The emotional address moved the Fort Rucker audience as it ended with a standing ovation from hundreds in the room.

Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, Commanding General, AVCOE and Fort Rucker closed out the breakfast, tied Schrader’s message of faith to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States.

“Dale implored us to seek the Lord, and everybody here who's been in a foxhole understands that concept,” Gilson said. “You don't have to have been in a physical foxhole, but we've all been in some place where we've sought haven from whatever craziness is happening in our lives. And that's when we all turn to something higher than ourselves.

For Shrader, that higher power is a daily reality. One that protected him on dark night in Somalia, and one he continues to share with the world, 32 years later.

“Tomorrow is not promised,” Shrader reminded the crowd. “Today is the day we’ve been given.”

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