Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez: A real American hero Published Sept. 24, 2010 By Capt. Dominique Haig Hispanic Heritage Month POC COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez received the Medal of Honor from President Ronald Reagan for heroism while wounded in the Vietnam War. On May 2, 1968, then Staff Sergeant Benavidez of the Army's Green Berets was at his base in Loc Ninh, South Vietnam. It was then that he heard the "get us out of here" cry over the radios and "so much shooting, it sounded like a popcorn machine." Sergeant Benavidez boarded a helicopter enroute to rescue the 12-man Special Forces team. The group of three Green Berets and nine Montagnard tribesmen were ambushed by the North Vietnamese inside Cambodia. "When I got on that copter, little did I know we were going to spend six hours in hell," he recalled. Sergeant Benavidez directed the aircraft to a clearing and ran toward his fellow troops. While searching for the team, he was shot in the face, head, and right leg. Upon arriving he found four of the men dead and the others wounded. He managed to drag the survivors aboard the helicopter, but the pilot was shot and killed immediately after takeoff causing the helicopter to crash and burn. Sergeant Benavidez then hauled the troops off the overturned helicopter and spent the next six hours organizing return fire, calling in air strikes, administering morphine and water to the wounded survivors, and recovering classified documents. During this process, he was shot in the stomach and thigh, and wounded in the back by grenade fragments. Just as another rescue helicopter arrived, Sergeant Benavidez was bayoneted by a North Vietnamese soldier, whom he later killed with a knife. He shot two additional enemy soldiers as he dragged the survivors to the helicopter while under devastating fire. Sergeant Benavidez was unable to move or speak when he finally arrived back at Loc Ninh. He was pronounced dead and being placed in a body bag when he managed to spit in the doctor's face, signaling he was still alive. He was immediately rushed to Saigon for surgery. He received the Distinguished Service Cross later that year and the Medal of Honor on Feb. 24, 1981. He passed away on Dec. 4, 1998 from complications of diabetes. Over the years, many have paid tribute to his heroism naming schools, a National Guard Armory and an Army Reserve Center after him. He, however, was adamant that, "the real heroes are the ones who gave their lives for their country. I don't like to be called a hero. I just did what I was trained to do."
