"Tell my mum I love her," were the last words spoken by Lance Corporal Shannon "Mac" McAliney, the only Australian soldier to die in the peacekeeping deployment to Somalia exactly thirty years ago.
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His mother learnt of her son's final heartbreaking message when she met the soldiers who cradled Shannon in his final moments.
On the weekend, the mother, Liz Hanns, went to a reunion at Government House of the people involved in the deployment.
![Liz Hanns, whose son, Lance Corporal Shannon McAliney, died in Somalia in 1993. Picture by Gary Ramage Liz Hanns, whose son, Lance Corporal Shannon McAliney, died in Somalia in 1993. Picture by Gary Ramage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/bwXFZWxdusWHsaYjdHyRzz/ca5a72ee-dd4f-4362-b335-97f98060f5fb.jpg/r0_0_4000_2667_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
There, she met a team of medics and other soldiers who tried desperately to keep Shannon alive after a gun accidentally fired, hitting the 21-year-old soldier in the chest at point-blank range. One of them had cradled his head in his last moments.
The mother said she looked each of her son's former comrades in the eye and thanked them.
"It's what I've been waiting for: to thank them, the people who were there when he died because I couldn't be," she said.
"They all worked together as a team," she said. They told her that Shannon had said several times: "Tell my mum I love her."
Lance Corporal McAliney of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment died on April 2, 1993.
![Liz Hanns, mother of Lance Corporal Shannon McAliney, met former army medical officer David Werda and other members of the team who tried to save his life. Picture by Gary Ramage Liz Hanns, mother of Lance Corporal Shannon McAliney, met former army medical officer David Werda and other members of the team who tried to save his life. Picture by Gary Ramage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/bwXFZWxdusWHsaYjdHyRzz/2cd996d6-2097-42c1-a993-c349b4d76072.jpg/r0_0_4000_2667_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The citation at the Australian War Memorial says he was leading a routine night patrol in the Somalian town of Baidoa: "As they were about to begin, one of the patrol members accidentally discharged his rifle and McAliney was shot in the chest at point-blank range.
"Despite immediate first aid, Mac passed away soon after arrival at the treatment section of the Australian camp at Baidoa airfield."
The commanding officer at the time was David Hurley, now the Governor-General of Australia.
He told The Canberra Times: "When he was shot, we went through that tragic period. It was enormously felt around the battalion because he was so well-liked."
Earlier, in the afternoon, there had been a soccer match between Australian soldiers and local people. It was the first time General Hurley said he had seen people smile.
And then came the "dreadful news".
![Mother and son. Picture supplied Mother and son. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/steve.evans/0c912ddc-876f-4b1f-bd8c-7a21330467a7.jpg/r0_803_1536_1778_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I had to break the news to the battalion. I assembled them, and then we had to get our thoughts and feelings together and get on with the job.
"Shannon was a lively young fellow - well-liked in the battalion. A good soldier."
Shannon's mother said the Governor-General has been very supportive in the 30 years since Shannon died. "I'm very grateful to David Hurley. He has kept an eye on me," she said.
Her son had always wanted to be a soldier, his mother said. "As a child, he would stand in front of the RSL club and say, 'I'm going to be a soldier one day'."
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She last saw him when he came home on leave for her 40th birthday "and then Somalia was announced when he was home and he went back".
"He was very proud to have been chosen."
He left school early and enlisted in 1988. After basic training, he was posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and deployed to Somalia as part of the US-led Unified Task Force. The aim in the civil was to protect supplies of life-saving food to ordinary Somalis.
After the accident, his body was returned to Australia and buried with a full military funeral in his hometown of Forbes.
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