Upon conclusion of hostilities in the Base of the Marines of Khe Sanh, teams SOG (the "Studies and Observations Group" was a secret special operations unit founded on January 24, 1964, which among others, had been operating out of war unconventional and illegal) were sent to Cambodia on a reconnaissance mission and to check after the Communist Tet Offensive had returned to their former sanctuaries.
the morning of May 2, 1968, a new team of Special Forces SOG under the command of Sergeant First Class Leroy Wright was introduced by helicopter to Cambodian territory was destined Loc Ninh forest area located 75 miles northwest of Saigon. His mission was to gather information about confirmed large-scale activity of the enemy. Would travel with Sergeant Lloyd Wright "Frenchie" Mousseau, Specialist Brian O'Connor and nine native Nung.
Watching them from the Ground Up operations of Quan Loi was an old friend of Wright, Sergeant First Class Roy Benavidez, a Texan of Mexican roots and "Yaqui" (tribe from the State of Sonora), which after being part of the 82 nd Airborne Division, also belonged 5 th Special Forces Group and the SOG.
Shortly after landing, the group met with an enemy unit, resulting in an intense exchange of fire. Despite stiff resistance, the number of NVA soldiers grew, forcing the SOG team to return to the LZ and request an emergency extraction. Three helicopters attempted operation, but the intense fire from mortars, RPGs and light weapons precluded him being shot down one of them. The enemy presence is counted and for companies ...
The situation was critical, Wright was shot in the head and died instantly, and O'Coonor Frenchie had received multiple gunshot wounds and had half of the Nung dead, the rest also wounded.
The group was therefore fixed and ready to be annihilated.
Benavidez, who was at the forward operating base for controlling the operation of radio and listening to the conversations of the FAC and helicopter pilots, soon realized that something must be done quickly, to rescue the men was a priority.
A Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division was near, but they could not enter Cambodia, and unfortunately neither team "Bright Light" (SOG code used for rescue efforts behind enemy lines) was available ...
When the helicopters returned to unload the injured crew members and to assess damage, Benavidez own initiative addressed one of them to try a last desperate attempt to extract.
Upon reaching the area and actually seeing all the team members were dead or wounded, he directed the pilot of the helicopter to an open area. Once there, he jumped in hover and carrying only a machete and attempted first aid kit cover about 75 meters that separated him from his peers. On his way he was shot in his right leg that he fell, but thinking it had caught on a thorn bush, he ran up to the overgrown area where Wright's team was still lying. After bandage
wounds of his comrades, injected with morphine, securing classified documents and take different ammunition of the dead soldiers who were nearby, took an AK-47. Moments later while conducting air strikes and called for a Huey, was shot in his right thigh, his second wound.
When Huey got closer, Benavidez spent the AK O'Coonor to more easily take the body of Wright, but then something pulled him back to the ground, a bullet had pierced his lung. It was the third impact I received.
almost fainted as he saw Huey was shot down as one of the pilots died and a door gunner. Coughing blood went to the LZ to rescue the survivors before the helicopter's fuel tanks exploded.
While mortars exploded all around, Benavidez repositioned team members into a defensive perimeter and proceeded to direct the tactical air attack of the Phantoms. Then was hurt again.
The intense fire support led to another rescue attempt. On board the Huey was the Medical Sergeant Ronald Benavidez Sammons who helped to move the crew of the downed Huey and members of the reconnaissance team.
Benavidez reeling from his wounds, he carried on his shoulder Mousseau way to the helicopter, when suddenly and he passed the body of an NVA soldier, he rose and struck him in the head with his AK. Benavidez fell to his knees, and when he was about to be attacked with the bayonet turned and getting his "bowie knife" violently threw himself on the Vietnamese, not avoiding the bayonet will traverse from side to side his left forearm.
Continuing its commitment and again after loading the wounded and to reach the aircraft, shot and killed two enemy soldiers quickly approaching from an angle that prevented the gun from the helicopter view.
With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all confidential material had been collected or destroyed, and to search for the remaining wounded. Only then, being in an extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and the blood loss, climbed onto the aircraft bound for a hospital in Saigon. Just before arriving, Frenchie died in his arms.
Wright and Mousseau received the "Distinguished Service Cross" posthumously, while Benavidez spent nearly a year to recover Hospital of his numerous gunshot wounds and shrapnel caused by the bayonet. Despite their heroic act and credited with saving eight lives, the documents are misplaced. On February 24, 1981, thirteen years later, thanks to Brian O'Connor's statements, after Congress approved the new legislation, the "Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez flew to Washington for President Reagan hung around his neck Medal of Honor.
After recovering from his serious wounds, he served in Fort Riley (Kansas), Fort Devens (Massachusetts) and Fort Sam Houston (Texas) where in August 1976 and between military honors retired U.S. Army with the rank Sergeant Major (Master Sergeant).
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After receiving the Medal of Honor, and write two autobiographical books, Roy spent the rest of his life to speak to the youth of America about the importance of staying in school and receive a good education: "Education is the key to success. Bad habits and bad company ruin your life."
On the afternoon of November 29, 1998, Roy P. Benavidez died in the "Brooke Army Medical Center from complications of diabetes, was buried in the Cemetery Fort Sam Houston National. His comrades in the FF.EE paid tribute to this hero of Hispanic origin.
http://www.army.mil/hispanicamericans
http://www.elgrancapitan.org
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