Roy Perez Benavidez
Medal of Honor Recipient
Valor above and Beyond the Call of Duty
SPECIAL FORCES:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his
life above
and beyond the call of duty West of Loc Ninh on 2 May 1968:
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
Born: 5 August 1935, DeWitt County, Cuero, Texas
Citation: Master Sergeant, then Staff Sergeant, United
States Army. Who
distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely
glorious actions on 2 May
1968 while assigned to Detachment B-56, 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.
3 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 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
gun ships 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 with 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 2 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
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 8 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
.
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