A soldier survived six hours of hell and lived to tell the tale
In short: Roy Benavidez was left for dead in a body bag after sustaining 37 wounds in Vietnam. He survived by spitting at a doctor to prove he was still breathing. His subsequent journey to receive the Medal of Honor required a chance encounter with a witness living in the Fiji Islands.
Born in 1935 to a Yaqui mother and a Mexican farmer, Roy Benavidez was orphaned by age eight. He left school at 15 to support his family, eventually enlisting in the Texas Army National Guard in 1952. By 1965, he was serving as a Special Forces advisor in South Vietnam. After stepping on a land mine, doctors told him he would never walk again, but he spent over a year secretly training himself to move by crawling and pushing against a wall until he could walk out of the hospital in July 1966.
On May 2, 1968, Benavidez voluntarily boarded a helicopter to rescue a 12-man patrol surrounded by an NVA battalion of about 1,000 men. During the six-hour battle, he was shot, bayoneted, and struck by grenade fragments. Despite 37 separate wounds, he directed air strikes, carried wounded comrades to safety, and secured classified documents. He was initially declared dead and placed in a body bag, only to alert a doctor to his survival at the last moment.
Recognition for his actions was delayed for years because the Army required an eyewitness account, and Benavidez believed all his comrades had died. In 1980, Brian O'Connor, a former radioman who had been severely wounded during the battle, read a newspaper account of Benavidez while on holiday in Australia. O'Connor contacted Benavidez and provided the necessary report. President Ronald Reagan presented Benavidez with the Medal of Honor in 1981, noting that his story would be unbelievable if it were a movie script.
After retiring, Benavidez became a prominent speaker, advocating for education and veteran rights. He authored three books about his life, including The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez. He died in 1998 at age 63 from respiratory failure and diabetes complications. Today, he is remembered through various memorials and his legacy as a symbol of resilience and service.
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