The heroes are the ones who never came back. Benavidez was born in Lindenau near Cuero, Texas in DeWitt County in August 5, 1935. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed from behind by an enemy soldier. Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crew members and to assess aircraft damage. He was Master Sergeant Raul Perez "Roy" Benevidez, aka Tango Mike Mike. 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. 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. ), Roy P. Benavidez-Robert M. Patterson "All Airborne" Chapter, 82nd Airborne Division Association, El Paso, Texas, Roy P. Benavidez Army Reserve Center, NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, Roy P. Benavidez Artillery Training Area 67 at, Roy P. Benavidez Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas, Roy P. Benavidez National Guard Armory in El Campo, Texas. 5. As Benavidez noted in his MOH acceptance speech in 1981, stung by the diagnosis, as well as flag burnings and media criticism of the US military presence in Vietnam he saw on TV, he began an unsanctioned nightly training ritual in an attempt to redevelop his ability to walk.[4]. Bravery is hard thing for most people to really put a finger on. The six-hour battle left Benavidez with seven major gunshot wounds, 28 fragmentation holes, and both his arms were slashed by a bayonet. The USNSBenavidez, a U.S. Navy Bob Hope-class roll on roll off vehicle cargo ship, is named in honor of MSG Benavidez. Sergeant BENAVIDEZ was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters, of the 240th Assault Helicopter Company, returned to off-load wounded crew members and to assess aircraft damage. It was 1:30 p.m., May 2, 1968. According to the official citation, on the morning of May 2, 1968, Benavidez, then a 33-year-old master sergeant, volunteered to help rescue a dozen or so soldiers wounded during a reconnaissance mission and surrounded by about a thousand North Vietnamese troops. The way we resolve these issues will define our national identity for this century and beyond.. Roy Benavidez died on November 29, 1998, at the age of 63 at Brooke Army Medical Center, having suffered respiratory failure and complications of diabetes. "/> After over a year of hospitalization, Benavidez walked out of the hospital in July 1966, with his wife at his side, determined to return to combat in Vietnam. He had fragments in his head, scalp, shoulder, buttocks, feet, and legs, his right lung was destroyed, and he had injuries to his mouth and back of his head from being clubbed with a rifle butt. No, I can't walk too well, I'm missing one lung, and I lock up like an old rusty gate if I sit too long, but I am alive. Retired U.S. Army general and former CIA director David Petraeus added his name to the renaming effort. 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. When one of his own tank destroyers was hit, he climbed aboard its burning husk and fired the .50 caliber machine gun." When Kentucky, where Hood was born, declared itself neutral during the Civil War, Hood chose to go to Texas, where he took command of the Texas Brigade during the war. "[5], At one point in the battle an NVA soldier accosted him and stabbed him with his bayonet. He joined the Army at 19, went to airborne school, then was injured by a land mine in South Vietnam in 1964. 1988's Rambo III and 2008's Rambo both failed to reach the high . How many times was Roy Benavidez shot? Click Here For The Most Popular On Sunny Skyz, 13-Year-Old Blind Girl With Autism Plays Chopin Flawlessly On Public Piano, Fans Went Crazy For A Shy 4-Year-Old Attending His First Hockey Game, A Fat Cat Has Become The Top-Rated Tourist Attraction In A Polish City, Madison Held A Contest To Name Their Snowplow Equipment And We Can't Stop Laughing, Someone Actually Managed To 'Rick Roll' Rick Astley Himself. In June 1955, he switched from the Army National Guard to Army active duty. These bases are monuments to Americas cultural ethos of racial inequality and this must change.. This is his Congressional Medal of Honor description: "On the morning of May 2, 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. Master Sergeant Raul Perez Roy Benavidez (August 5, 1935 November 29, 1998) was a United States Army master sergeant who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Lc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968, while serving as a member of the United States Army Special Forces during the . On May 2, 1968, Staff Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez volunteered to come to the rescue of a twelve-man Green Beret patrol overrun by a thousand North Vietnamese infantry. Reagan turned to the press and said, "If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it". David Tarrant. [citation needed] He dropped out of school at age 15, in order to work full-time to help support the family. In October 1964, Benavidez was among the first 125,000 American troops in Vietnam. That was the 1966 diagnosis of a soldier whose broken body was evacuated to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Benavidez shined shoes at the local bus station, labored on farms in California and Washington, and worked at a tire shop in El Campo. 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. Having rebuilt their forces and upgraded their logistics system, North Vietnamese forces triggered a major offensive in the Central Highlands in March 1975. U.S. Army and Pentagon officials indicated Monday they were open to the idea of removing the names of Confederate military commanders at Army posts, including Fort Hood -- an idea long supported by LULAC and other civil rights advocates. U.S. Army. Benavidez has become the most prominent candidate in a campaign to rename one of the Army's largest posts, Fort Hood, in Central Texas, after someone from the state. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Print. Roy Benavidez. Texas offers specialty license plates that recognize the service and sacrifices of military personnel, veterans and their families. Roy Benavidez Amazing Story of Roy Benavidez. John Rambo was a soldier of the U.S. Army who fought in the Vietnam War, and he was a member of the elite force, the Green Beret. At its 2019 convention in Milwaukee, LULAC unanimously passed a resolution to honor Benavidez by renaming Fort Hood after him. They have two children, a dog, and five chickens (Napoleon, Pedro, Kip, Lafawnduh and Deb). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Contents Fort Hood is named for John Bell Hood, a Confederate general and West Point graduate. Joe toy created in his likeness. Benavidez's Distinguished Service Cross accordingly was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Master Sergeant Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez (August 5 . 5 Stars, 1 product rating 1. In terms of inspiration, David Morrell has gone on record several times in the past saying "Rambo" was in fact based on a true story. 4 What did Roy do after he retired from the army? He did not serve in the military because of a student deferment and later a medical deferment. September 23, 2022 by bloggerboys72@gmail.com. Armed only with a knife, he jumped from the helicopter carrying his medical bag and ran to help the trapped patrol. To keep his legacy alive and for a more in-depth look, many books about Roy Benavidez are available on amazon.com. Maryland-based group working with LULAC on the issue. Laugh. Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond. A military base needs to be reflective of all America.. Contents 1 Childhood and early life 2 Military career 2.1 Medal of Honor citation 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. Others names floated include Audie Murphy, a native Texan, who was one of the most decorated U.S. soldiers in World War II; Dwight D. Eisenhower, commanding general of allied forces in Europe and the 34th president of the United States; and Doris Dorie Miller, a black sailor awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That was a shameful episode in American history in terms of the Confederacy and what it stood for, he said. However, the films depict him as being independent, tough, focused, adaptable, and having a great ability to improvise, which I would argue to be accurate qualities of real Green Berets. Roy Benavidez. As a result, this character is not necessarily based on anyone in particular . Jason S. Ridler of Clarkesworld magazine described some of Murphy's feats in a 2016 article, writing: "[Murphy's] commendation for the Medal of Honor noted that in action in France, he stood alone calling artillery fire on approaching tanks. 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. President Donald Trump overruled his own Pentagon chief, Fairfield Lake State Park developer considering plan to sell water to North Texas, Corby Davidson, radio co-host of The Tickets Hardline, has rare benign tumor, TikTok to impose 60-minute time limit for users younger than 18. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. 5 Why was Roy Benavidez awarded the Medal of Honor? This brochure provides a catalog of military specialty license plates available for you. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. After serving at Fort Riley, Kansas and Fort Sam Houston, and having reached the rank of master sergeant, Roy Benavidez retired in 1976. eight men At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Sgt. Three years later, his mother passed away for the same reasons. Prime has a high profile new series coming to the platform this month with the rock drama Daisy Jones and the Six (March 3). Benavidez was born in 1935 near Cuero, Texas, southeast of San Antonio. Family friend Archbishop Patrick Flores of the Archdiocese of San Antonio presided over a Catholic funeral Mass at San Fernando Cathedral located in San Antonio. Roy Benavidez wearing his Medal of Honor. When he was two years old, his father died of tuberculosis and his mother remarried. He was fromCanada and had only come to America for a chance to further his writing career. The mission . All Rights Reserved. Master Sergeant. The way we resolve these issues will define our national identity for this century and beyond.. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. Benavidez was in demand as a speaker by United States armed forces, schools, military and civic groups, and private businesses. Badly wounded, he managed to retrieve classified documents from the body of the teams leader, before being pulled up into the helicopter and flying off to safety. Please take a couple of minutes to learn about a real American hero. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for MEDAL OF HONOR: A VIETNAM WARRIOR'S STORY By Roy P. Benavidez & John R. Craig at the best online prices at eBay! Benavidez pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed him and kept going, leaving his knife in the NVA soldier's body. What date was Roy Benavidez awarded the Medal of Honor? Copyright CK Media Group. In real life, Americans indeed had a Rambo. My jaws were locked. : todayilearned Born in Texas, Roy Benavidez began his life shining shoes, working on farms and tire shops. Ridler included a quote in the article saying Murphy was "alone and exposed to German fire from three sides" at one point, but his "deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCffBLike me on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/KingPigley/?Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/KingPigleyFollow my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gamingimper Headless Horseman by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.comMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/#roybenavidez #truetale #warstories #bravery #truestory #truestories #scary #combat #war #greenberet #medalofhonor On April 30, 1975, NVA tanks rolled through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, effectively ending the war. In real life, Americans indeed had a Rambo. Badly wounded, he managed to retrieve classified documents from the body of the teams leader, before being pulled up into the helicopter and flying off to safety. Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez Noncommissioned Officer Academy of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, Roy P. Benavidez Scholarship Fund in El Campo, Roy P. Benavidez Special Operations Logistic Complex at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, This page was last edited on 30 December 2022, at 20:41. The longtime resident of El Campo, near Houston, was 63. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft.". Working as a military advisory alongside Republic of Vietnam soldiers, he helped train them in American military tactics. 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