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Vietnam War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Msg. Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez, US Army
MSG Roy P. Benevidez 528th Support Complex
US Army Special Operations Support Command, Fort Bragg, NC
Receiving his Medal of Honor from President Ronald Reagan, MSG Benavidez was honored for actions during the Viet Nam conflict. Benavidez, a native Texan, was born 5 August 1935. On May 2, SSG Benavidez was assigned to Detachment B-56, 5th SFG(A). After a 12-man reconnaissance team had been inserted west of Loc Ninh, they encountered enemy resistance and requested emergency extraction. After three helicopters had unsuccessfully attempted to extract them, SSG Benavidez volunteered to return with the helicopters for another attempt. Directing the helicopters to a protected clearing, Benavidez ran to the crippled team. Even though he was severely wounded in his right leg, face and hands, he dragged or carried the dead and wounded to the helicopters. In order to recover the remaining team members, Benavidez threw smoke canisters directing the helicopters to the site. As the enemy fire intensified, he hurried to recover classified documents on the dead team leader. Hit in the abdomen and back, he continued to gather the classified documents. Simultaneously, the pilot of the helicopter was killed and the chopper crashed. Although in extremely critical condition, Benaaidez assisted the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy fire, Benavidez went around the perimeter distributing ammunition and water, instilling in them the will to live. He, although extremely weak, began calling in tactical air strikes and directing fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and to permit another extraction attempt. Again wounded in the thigh, Benavidez kept administering first aid to the team members until the extraction helicopter was able to land. He then began ferrying the wounded into the helicopter. Upon his second trip, he was clubbed from behind and he became involved in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy whom he subsequently killed. He continued to carry wounded to the aircraft. Upon reaching the aircraft the last time, Benavidez spotted two enemy soldiers and killed them. Only after all the wounded had been placed on the helicopter did he allow himself to be treated. Benevidez died in El Campo, Texas 1999.
U.S. Navy Ship named after Roy Benavidez
Medal of Honor: One Man's Journey from Poverty and Prejudice - Now available in trade paperback is the powerful story of one man's fight against bigotry, paralysis, and his war enemy that led to the Medal of Honor. From migrant farm-worker and middle school dropout to recipient of his country's highest award for bravery, Roy Benavidez demonstrated the courage and fortitude of an American hero. The half-Yaqui Indian, half-Mexican orphan fought his way out of the bigotry of South Texas to serve with the Army's elite - the Special Forces. In February, 1981, President Regan awarded him the Medal of Honor.
Sgt. Benavidez was medivacked in to the U.S. from Vietnam, wounded by a land mine. Doctors told him he would never walk again. From Chapter 13: A New Enemy: So, I prayed a lot. I also started to do the only thing that had ever gotten me anywhere in my whole life. I put my head down and I went to work. . . I had the guy next to me move his nightstand over so both stands were between our beds. That night I crawled all the way to the wall and managed to use my arms on the two nightstands to finally pull myself erect against it. My two hands were flat on top of the nightstands, and I was just sort of hanging there. I tried to put weight on my legs and a burning pain shot through my back that felt like I'd been stabbed with a red-hot knife. I collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor. That's were the nurses found me that time.
Night after night, I bailed out of bed, crawled for the wall at the head of my bed and pulled myself up. I pushed the nightstands ahead with my arms, pressed my feet against the cold tile floor, and dragged my dead body along until my arms were under me again. Then I'd start all over again. Finally, I was moving about two tiles at a time. . . I had learned that if I got knocked down, I had to get up and keep fighting until I knocked my opponent down, and he didn't get up. Every night I got knocked down. Every night I got back up again. . .
The pain was like nothing I could have ever dreamed about. Every night it would suck the sweat and tears from my body and my soul. Every day I would go back to that little chapel and sit alone and restor my soul. I went through all the stages of blaming God, accusing, doubting, and arguing, but he never deserted me. He'd never let me leave that chapel until I was ready to try again. After chapel, I went to physical therapy to try to restore the rest of my body for my nightly battle.
In therapy I'd sit with the guys with no legs, or the true paraplegics, and learn how to live in the chair. I was not a good student. I wouldn't give in to the chair. At night I was beginning to win my battle, and I wasn't going to let the therapists convince me that it was a lost cause.
Excerpted from Medal of Honor: One Man's Journey from Poverty and Prejudice by Roy Perez Benavidez. Copyright 1999. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Roy Benavidez as a young boy
CITATION:
Rank and Organization: Master Sergeant, Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group, Republic of Vietnam. Place and Date: West of Loc Ninh on 2 May 1968. Entered Service at: Houston, Texas June 1955. Date and Place of Birth: 5 August 1935, DeWitt County, Cuero, Texas. Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. Benavidez United States Army, who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance, and requested emergency extraction. Three helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small arms and anti-aircraft fire. Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crewmembers and to assess aircraft damage. Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. Despite these painful injuries, he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant Benavidez was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant Benavidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant Benavidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed from additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed two enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sergeant Benavidez' gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men. His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.
Roy Benavidez's medals, ribbons, insignia, patches and badges
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