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Gather around kids while I tell you about a Texan who became a legend on this day in 1968. That man is MSG Roy Benavidez. He was born on August 5th, 1935, in Cuero, Texas. His mother and father died when he was a young kid, and so he went to live with his aunt and uncle. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 to work in the fields to help support the family. Since he was half Hispanic and half Yaqui indian he dealt with racism from his classmates and adults. He joined the Texas army national guard in 1952 at the age of 17. In 1955, he joined the regular army, and in 1959, he joined the famed 82nd airborne division. He was sent to Vietnam in 1965 as an adviser. One day, while out on a classified one man patrol dressed in black pajamas, he stepped on a landmine. After an undetermined amount of time, a squad of Marines came upon Benavidez. They thought he was a booby trap and were about to just walk on by him, but fortunately, one Marine decided to flip him over. The squad was shocked to see that the man in black pajamas was Hispanic and had Army dog tags. Benavidez was sent to San Antonio, TX, to recoup. He was paralyzed and couldn't walk. When the Dr brought Benavidez his discharge papers, Benavidez begged the Dr to not discharge him. The Army was his life and only means of providing for his family. The Dr agreed that if Benavidez could walk out of the hospital, he wouldn't discharge him. So, every night, Benavidez would fall out of his bed and start crawling with his chin and elbows across the floor to the wall. He would get into a standing position and force himself to wiggle his toes. He did this night after night going through unbearable pain in order to walk again. Less than a year later, when the Dr again brought back discharge papers, Benavidez said to watch this first. He then jumped out of bed and almost passed out from the pain, but he held firm. The Dr was shocked to see Benavidez do this, and true to his word, he ripped up the papers. He walked with a limp, but he walked out of the hospital with his wife. He was sent back to Ft Bragg but was told he was going to be on desk duty. Benavidez didn't like this because he was determined to try out for Special Forces. So Benavidez began to run 5 to 10 miles a day and do a thousand push-ups to get back in shape. Finally, he was ready and began his Special Forces tryout. He graduated with the coveted Green Beret and specialized as a combat medic. Later, he was sent back to Vietnam in 1968 and stationed at a forwad operating base in Loc Ninh, Vietnam. While attending church one morning, he could hear the radio in the comms tent next door. It was blaring the sounds of explosions, machine gun fire, and a voice yelling to come get them before they're overrun. Benavidez rushed over to the comms tent and asked the radio operator who was in trouble, but the radio operator didn't know who it was. The Special Forces A-team from MACV-Sog was a 12-man recon team that was surrounded by a nva battalion numbering around 1,000 men. Benavidez stood listening to the radio when he heard choppers coming in to land. He rushed to the landing area to see 3 choppers landing, and they were shot to hell. Benavidez ran up to the door gunner to ask if he knew which recon team was out there, but he didn't get an answer. The young 19 year old door gunner fell into Benavidez's arms and died from several gunshot wounds. Benavidez then ran to the pilot and asked him if he was going back for another rescue attempt. When told yes, Benavidez grabbed his med bag, jumped onto the chopper, and they took off. He had volunteered so fast that he forgot to grab his weapon. So Benavidez was armed only with a med bag and bowie knife. When they reached the battlefield, it was hell on earth. The amount of bullets flying through the air made it seem impossible to land. In fact, the pilot told Benavidez that he couldn't land near the team.
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