Posted on 07/10/2017 12:36:59 AM PDT by LibWhacker
INCREDIBLE hero, great man, great American.
Video here --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oUtJxE4sjs
Yes, thanks for posting.
It’s hard to believe that from January 1989 to January 2017, we had a globalist as President. I.e., someone dedicated to abolishing the U.S.
Wow! Just wow! Thank you for posting this.
bmp
How many times have you heard the question : where do we find such men? God bless this man.
I recall him being at B-56 in early 68 before they joined us to form CCS,MACVSOG in late 68 early 69. One of the medics said he could not believe he was alive. Yes, what he did was incredible. He still left blood on a friend’s sheets from his wounds many years later. If you want to see the one soldier, who I thought out did Audie Murphy, look for “Bob” Robert Howard. Howard was an SFC at FOB 2(Kontum)from about 66-69 or so. He was put in for the CMH on three separate occasions. He retired as a full colonel. Bob was one hell of a soldier. Another MACVSOG man will get the CMH from Pres. Trump very soon for Operation Tailwind in Laos.
In my 25 years in the military , I feel like I have been overpaid for the service to my country. There will never be enough paper to print the money nor enough gold in Fort Knox for me to have to keep from doing what I did.
I’m proud to be an American and even prouder that I earned the privilege to wear the Green Beret.
I live by the motto of Duty, Honor, Country
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much thank you God bless you and God bless America.
MSG Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez; August 5, 1935 – November 29, 1998
I watched that video, and then another one where it said he jumped 30 to 50 feet to the ground from the chopper. I was thinking he jumped 3 to 5 feet! (Hmm - maybe the 30 to 50 foot quote from the video by the narrarator was wrong!).
I did just see on Wiki that when he left the chopper he was only armed with a knife! And carrying a medic bag.
Incredible. This should be shown in all high schools & prisons. What a remarkable man.
Thanks for posting! Amazing and humble man. God Bless him!
He spoke at a function I attended in the early ‘90s.
That’s the best thing I’ve seen in a very long time.
Mel Gibson should make a film about Sgt. Benavides.
M4L
Amen, Bro!
You said what I feel.
It’s kind of sad that most people don’t know the feeling of life in dedicated service and how personally enriching it can be.
In other words, so many good times. I was only Air Force, and can’t say I experienced combat, but was ready nevertheless.
ping
Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six hour fight with the enemy battalion.
He was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead.
He couldn’t open his eyes because of the amount of blood that had dried over them. He couldn’t talk, because he had been hit in the mouth with a rifle butt and his jaws were locked.
As he was being placed in a body bag among the other dead, 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 zipping up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face, alerting the doctor that he was alive.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“I was wheeled into the operating room and as I was being lifted to my operating table, I saw this nurse on her hands and knees, crying, yelling, asking God .......
‘Why do you do this to these men? Why?’ ”
[still in Viet Nam]
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. [on medivac airplane flight to Japan]
“ ‘You’re not going to die on me, Benavidez,’ this nurse kept yelling at me. ‘I’m going to pinch you every time you close your eyes. I’m gonna pinch you. I’m gonna pinch you.’
“Boy, she kept pinching me.
“When I got to Japan, and they wheeled me into the operating room, they disrobed me, I remember the doctor—I heard him say, ‘What in the world happened to you?’
“I had blue spots, red spots all over me. And I said, ‘That lady kept pinching me up there.’ ”
.....................................................
Medal of Honor recommendation
In 1973, after more detailed accounts became available, Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Ralph R. Drake insisted that Benavidez receive the Medal of Honor. By then, however, the time limit on the medal had expired.
An appeal to Congress resulted in an exemption for Benavidez, but the Army Decorations Board denied him an upgrade of his Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor.
The Army board required an eyewitness account from someone present during the action, and Benavidez believed that there were no living witnesses of the “Six Hours in Hell.”
US Army retirement
In August 1976, Benavidez retired from the United States Army as a master sergeant.
Medal of Honor
In 1980, Brian O’Connor, the former radioman of Benavidez’s Special Forces team in Vietnam, provided a ten-page report of the encounter on May 2, 1968. O’Connor had been severely wounded (Benavidez had believed him dead), and he was evacuated to the United States before his superiors could fully debrief him. O’Connor had been living in the Fiji Islands and was on holiday in Australia when he read a newspaper account of Benavidez from an El Campo newspaper. The story had been picked up by the international press and reprinted in Australia. O’Connor immediately contacted Benevidez and submitted his report, confirming the accounts provided by others, and serving as the necessary eyewitness.
Benavidez’s Distinguished Service Cross accordingly was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.
....................................................
On February 24, 1981, President Ronald Reagan presented Roy P. Benavidez with the Medal of Honor. Reagan said, “If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it”. He then read the official award citation. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez (center) and President Ronald Reagan at his Medal of Honor presentation ceremony in 1981. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Roy_Benavidez_MOH_ceremony.jpg/553px-Roy_Benavidez_MOH_ceremony.jpg
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
BENAVIDEZ, ROY P.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant. Organization: Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group, Republic of Vietnam Place and date: West of Loc Ninh on May 2, 1968 Entered service at: Houston, Texas June 1955 Born: August 5, 1935, DeWitt County, Cuero, Texas.
Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. BENAVIDEZ United States Army, 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 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 bayonet wounds to his head and both 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 BENAVIDEZS’ gallant choice to voluntarily join 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.
http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3229/benavidez-roy-p.php ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
President Ronald Reagan speech at Medal of Honor Ceremony for MSG Roy Benavidez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oUtJxE4sjs From O:OO—5:10 on the Video
From SAME VIDEO 1991 speech by Benavidez— start at 14:30 on the Video
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Master Sergeant. BENAVIDEZ, ROY P.
• Born: August 5, 1935, Cuero, TX
• Died: November 29, 1998, San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, TX
Place of burial Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service 1952–1976
Rank Master Sergeant
Unit 5th Special Forces Group
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG)
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards ————
Medal of Honor
Purple Heart (5)
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal
Army Commendation Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge
Texas Legislative Medal of Honor
(partial list)
“After my last return to the helicopter, when I boarded on, I was holding my intestines in my hand.”
Roy Benavidez, a US soldier in the Vietnam War, performed possibly the most heroic six hours of battle any soldier ever has.
When faced with over 1,000 NVA troops, Roy P. Benavidez, armed with only a knife at the time he arrived, flew into a gunfight to save Special Forces soldiers .
He was shot multiple times and believed dead, until he spit in the face of the doctor trying to put him in a body bag.
It took 13 years to get him the Medal of Honor.
http://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-vietnam-war/
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