[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 159 (Thursday, October 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12124-H12125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE TENACIOUS WARRIOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, America is about people. Who we are 
and what we are is because of the people who are Americans. They are 
individuals who have lived and died and influenced the rest of us 
because of their tenacious spirit and determination.
  Madam Speaker, I am a history fan. I love American history. I also 
love Texas history. Not the history of dates and movements, but the 
history of the lives of individual Americans who have made a 
difference.
  Roy Benavidez was one of those Americans. Roy Benavidez was born in 
south Texas in a small town called Cuero on August 5, 1935. He was the 
son of a sharecropper. He was an orphan, and he had mixed blood of 
Yaqui Indian and Hispanic. He was raised by his uncle after he lost his 
own family, and eventually he dropped out of school when he was 15. He 
was a migrant farm worker to take care of his family. He worked all 
over Texas and part of Colorado in the sugar beet fields and the cotton 
fields.
  Eventually he decided to join the Texas National Guard and then the 
United States Army in 1955. He joined up in Houston, Texas. And in 
1965, he was sent to Vietnam as a member of the 82nd Airborne.
  While serving as an adviser to the South Vietnamese Army, he stepped 
on a land mine in South Vietnam. U.S. Army doctors at Brooke Army 
Medical Center told him he would never walk again. But he did walk. And 
not only that, he volunteered and returned back to Vietnam as a staff 
sergeant in the Army Special Forces; we call them the Green Berets.
  On May 2, 1968, his life and the lives of his fellow troopers changed 
forever. It is a story that is almost unbelievable.
  On the morning of May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces team was 
inserted into Cambodia to observe a large-scale North Vietnamese troop 
movement. They were eventually discovered by the enemy. Most of the 
team members were very close friends of Roy Benavidez, who was the 
forward operating officer in Loc Ninh, Vietnam.
  Three helicopters were sent to rescue the 12-man team, but they were 
unable to land because of the heavy enemy concentration. When a second 
attempt was made to reach the stranded team, Benavidez jumped on board 
one of the helicopters armed only with a bowie knife.
  As the helicopters reached the landing zone, Benavidez realized the 
team members were likely too severely wounded to move to the 
helicopters, so by himself he ran through heavy small-arms fire to the 
wounded soldiers. He was wounded himself in the leg, the face, and the 
head in the process. He reorganized the team and signaled helicopters 
to land. Despite his injuries, Benavidez was able to carry off half the 
wounded men to the helicopters. He then collected the classified 
documents held by a now-dead team leader. As he completed this task, he 
was wounded again by an exploding grenade in the back, and then he was 
shot in the stomach.
  At that moment, the waiting helicopter pilot was also mortally 
wounded, and the helicopter crashed. Benavidez ran to collect the 
stunned crash survivors and form a perimeter. He directed air support. 
He ordered another extraction attempt, and was wounded again when shot 
in the thigh. At this point he was losing so much blood from his face 
wounds that his vision became blurred. Finally, another helicopter 
landed and as Benavidez carried a wounded friend to it, he was clubbed 
in the head with a rifle butt by an enemy soldier and then bayoneted 
twice.
  Madam Speaker, Benavidez was wounded in that one battle in that one 
day 37 times. He had seven gunshot wounds, he had mortar fragments in 
his back, and two bayonet wounds. But he saved the lives of eight of 
his fellow troopers.
  Later he was presumed dead and zipped up in a body bag; but right 
before they zipped up the bag, he spit in the doctor's face letting the 
doctor know yes, he was still alive. Amazing people, these young guns 
of the Green Berets.
  Madam Speaker, this is a photograph of Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez. 
He eventually recovered from all of those wounds and received the 
Distinguished Service Cross, and many years later Ronald Reagan 
presented him with the medal he wears around his neck in this 
photograph, the Congressional Medal of Honor. President Reagan stated 
here in Washington, D.C., on presentation of that medal that if this 
were a movie, no one would really believe it could ever happen. What 
Roy Benavidez did that day is unbelievable. I will insert the Medal of 
Honor citation for Roy Benavidez.
  After he retired from the military, this seventh-grade dropout went 
around America talking about the importance of education. He talked to 
young gang members, he talked to the Hispanic youth, telling them to 
stay in school and get an education. He was an amazing individual. A 
Navy ship has been named after him. Several elementary schools in Texas 
have been named after Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, and even a toy 
company has issued the Roy Benavidez G.I. Joe action figure.

                              {time}  1915

  In Texas there are a disproportionately high number of Hispanic 
Americans who volunteer for the military. They are American Patriots. 
Some legal immigrants even join and serve in Iraq and Afghanistan in 
the hope they will become U.S. citizens. Madam Speaker, as we celebrate 
Hispanic Heritage Month, one of those great Hispanic Americans was Roy 
Benavidez, and he lived the American dream the way he wanted to.
  And that's just the way it is.

                           Benavidez, Roy P.

       Citation: Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. 
     Benavidez United States Army, who 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 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 returned to off-load wounded 
     crewmembers 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

[[Page H12125]]

     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 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 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.

                          ____________________