[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20118-20119]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              MASTER SERGEANT ROY BENAVIDES, TEXAS 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. Mr. Speaker, Master Sergeant Roy Benavides was born in south 
Texas on a ranch on August 5, 1935. He was a sharecropper's son, and he 
barely knew his parents. He was orphaned when he was young, and he and 
his brother went to live with an uncle in El Campo, Texas.
  Roy was a quiet kid and spent most of his time in the sugar cane and 
cotton fields of south Texas working. He only finished the eighth 
grade, and his classmates made fun of him because of the way he talked. 
He joined the Army at the age of 19 and became an Army of One. On his 
first combat tour in Vietnam, he stepped on a land mine. Doctors were 
not sure he would be able to keep his leg, but he recovered and went on 
to become one of those legendary Green Berets.
  During his second tour in Vietnam, in the early morning hours of May 
2, 1968, Roy Benavides was monitoring a radio, listening to a 12-man 
unit on patrol. Three Green Berets and nine Montagnard tribesmen were 
dropped off into the dark, dense jungle west of Lok Nenh, Vietnam. The 
jungle they were dropped in was infested with the substantial force of 
the well-trained North Vietnamese Army. As quickly as they disembarked 
the Army helicopter, the American unit was surrounded by a large force 
of Vietnamese regulars. It was immediately clear to them that the 
mission had been given incorrect intelligence on the strength of the 
enemy. Three helicopters were ordered to evacuate the overrun and 
overwhelmed American troops. Due to intense enemy fire, the choppers 
could not rescue those Americans.

                              {time}  1930

  All the while, Sergeant Benavides was monitoring the operation by 
radio. When Roy heard one of his soldiers scream, ``Get us out of 
here,'' he jumped onto another helicopter and volunteered for a second 
evacuation attempt. When he arrived under fire at the shocking scene, 
four Americans were already dead; eight others were wounded and unable 
to move.
  Carrying a knife and a medic bag, Benavides left from the helicopter 
that was hovering 10 feet above the ground. He ran 70 yards under small 
arms fire to his injured and crippled troopers. Before he could get to 
them, he was shot in the leg, the face and the head, but he took charge 
and kept moving.
  He tended to the injured. He threw out smoke canisters to facilitate 
the

[[Page 20119]]

landing of helicopters and dragged the injured and dead aboard. Dodging 
bullets from the enemy, he ran in to find the dead team leader to 
recover his body and the classified documents he had on him.
  It was in this attempt where he was severely wounded again. He 
succeeded in getting the classified documents, but he was shot in the 
stomach and grenade fragments blasted into his back. At the same time, 
the hovering helicopter pilot was fatally wounded, and the helicopter 
crashed.
  Even wounded, Sergeant Benavides helped the other wounded escape from 
the burning wreckage. He called in air strikes with the hope of 
suppressing the enemy and allowing for a third evacuation.
  In critical condition, he supplied water and ammunition to his 
wounded troopers. His unconquerable spirit kept him going, and he 
inspired the wounded to stay strong and fight. And they did, for 6 more 
hours against vicious enemy fire.
  When another helicopter eventually landed, he assisted in loading the 
wounded. On the second trip to this copter, he was bayoneted and 
received additional wounds in his head and arms. He was out of ammo. 
Master Sergeant Benavides had to fight assailants with his bare hands.
  He finished the job of loading his buddies and killed two more enemy 
soldiers who were attempting to rush the aircraft. After grabbing the 
last remaining classified documents, Master Sergeant Benavides allowed 
himself on the helicopter where he collapsed, and those abroad presumed 
him to be dead.
  He risked his life for hours, and because of his courage and refusal 
to be stopped, he succeeded in saving the lives of eight of his 
troopers.
  Keeping with the American military tradition, he left no one behind 
on the battlefield. On the return flight back to the base, Benavides' 
body was lifeless. He was unable to speak; and when unloaded from the 
helicopter, Army doctors presumed him to be dead.
  As they placed him into a body bag, Benavides did the only thing he 
could to prove he was not dead, he spit blood in the face of the 
doctor. He was then rushed to surgery and began to recover from seven 
gunshot wounds, 28 shrapnel wounds and bayonet wounds.
  Master Sergeant Roy Benavides was a true hero and a proud American. 
His fearless leadership, courage and devotion to duty and America 
earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He acted above and beyond 
the call of duty.
  His courage has been described as superhuman. When speaking about 
Master Sergeant Benavides, Ronald Reagan once said, ``If his heroism 
were a movie script, you just would not believe it''.
  But he did not regard himself as someone special. He once said, the 
real heroes are the ones that gave their lives for America. I do not 
like being called a hero. I did just what I was trained to do.
  He remained in the Army until 1976, and he spent the rest of his life 
counseling troubled Hispanic children and speaking to schools and youth 
groups. He is an example to all.
  In 1998, on his deathbed, he proclaimed, ``I am proud to be an 
American.'' And he still had two pieces of shrapnel in his heart.
  So as we acknowledge, Mr. Speaker, the beginning of Hispanic Heritage 
Month, we are thankful to the Hispanic American heroes like Master 
Sergeant Roy Benavides.
  There were over 10,000 Hispanics killed in Vietnam, 20 percent of the 
casualties in Vietnam? And as our brave men and women continue to fight 
overseas in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we can be sure that 
American Hispanics will continue to serve this Nation and fulfill the 
motto of General Douglas McArthur of duty, honor and country.

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