Ray Benevidez MOH

 

 

Ok, folks, we've read several posts describing the heroism of the Medal of Honor recipients.  All of them were heros and performed actions "Above and beyond the call of duty."   You may not have noticed, but they're all "air force".  So I decided to throw y'all a curve ball, see if you can find out what it is. 

I certainly haven't read all the citations (yet), but this one is by far the Toughest I have read about.  Oh, did I mention, he's a Texan, born and raised in DeWitt County, southeast of San Antonio.  At 17, he enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard.  In June 1955 (a month that has special meaning to me) he joined the active duty Army in the 82nd Airborne Division.  

His next step was to join the Special Forces.  In 1965 he was sent to Vietnam as an advisor to a regiment of the Republic of Vietnam Army.  On a solo reconnaisance mission he stepped on a land mine.  Doctors told him he would never walk again.

Here's were the Bad Ass comes to fruition. 

Getting out of bed at night (against doctors' orders), Benavidez would crawl using his elbows and chin to a wall near his bedside and (with the encouragement of his fellow patients, many of whom were permanently paralyzed and/or missing limbs) he would prop himself against the wall and attempt to lift himself unaided, starting by wiggling his toes, then his feet, and then eventually (after several months of excruciating practice that, by his own admission, often left him in tears) pushing himself up the wall with his ankles and legs. 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. Despite continuing pain from his wounds, he returned to South Vietnam in January 1968. Source 

 He returned to Vietnam in January 1968.  Bad Ass indeed.

But, No...He goes back into combat.  He heard a radio call from a Special Forces unit that was surrounded.  He grabbed a medical bag and boarded a helicopter.  When they arrived in the vicinity, he JUMPED out of the helicopter 30-40 feet in the air.  Again,  here's the description of the event.

At one point in the battle an NVA soldier accosted him and stabbed him with his bayonet. Benavidez pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed him and kept going, leaving his knife in the NVA soldier's body. He later killed two more NVA soldiers with an AK-47 while providing cover fire for the people boarding the helicopter. After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help. A doctor came and examined him but believed Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face to show that he was alive.^[6]Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six-hour fight with the enemy battalion   Source

 On February 24 1981, President Reagan presented him with the Medal of Honor.  During the ceremony, he stated "If the story of his Heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it."

 

Spot on, Mr President. 

Citation for the award of the Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

On 2 May 1968, Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. Benavidez distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions 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 of the 240th Assault Helicopter Company 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, of the 240th Assault Helicopter Company, returned to off-load wounded crew members 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 behind by an enemy soldier. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, he sustained additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary.^{[7][note 2]} 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.

 Sergeant Benevidez passed away in 1998 at 63.  He is buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Semitary

My primary source for this post is here. Wikipedia is usually a good source for these posts.  IMHO they went way beyond their usual level of detail.  I highly recommend reading it in it's entirety. You might also find the video of President Reagan presenting the MOH to Master Sergeant Benavidez interesting

Peace out, y'all! 

Other Sources you might find interesting

 https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganroybenavidezmedalofhonor.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Benavidez 

https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/medal-of-honor-recipient-profile/roy-benavidez-presevering-to-the-last/ 

 https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/medal-of-honor-recipient-profile/roy-benavidez-presevering-to-the-last/