Master sgt raul roy p benavidez biography
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#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Roy Benavidez
On National Medal of Honor Day, today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Roy Perez Benavidez, a Vietnam War special forces soldier.
Raul Perez Benavidez, nicknamed Roy, was born in August 1935 in Cuero, Texas, and grew up in El Campo, Texas. Before enlisting in the Texas Army National Guard in 1952, he worked as a migrant farmworker.
In June 1955, Benavidez received his infantry training at Fort Ord, California. By 1965, Benavidez was in Vietnam as a military adviser to the South Vietnamese Army. While gathering intelligence of possible Vietcong infiltration, Benavidez stepped on a land mine that left him with severe damage to his spine. Immediately taken to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, doctors told him he would never walk again.
Benavidez spent months of grueling rehabilitation and training at the U.S. Army special forces center. In January 1968, Benavidez eventually returned to Vietnam as staff sergeant with the Deta
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Roy P. Benavidez
Roy P. Benavidez
Master Sergeant
Detachment B-56 (MACV-SOG), 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces
August 5, 1935 – November 29, 1998
Roy Benavidez wearing his Medal of Honor. U.S. Army.
Nestled inside the Soldier’s Creed, which every member of the modern Army learns in basic training, is the Warrior Ethos: “I will always place the mission first. inom will never accept defeat. inom will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.” If the Army had created a personification of the krigare Ethos, it would have been Roy P.Benavidez. Benavidez personified mental and physical toughness throughout his life, and he epitomized the Warrior Ethos on May 2, 1968, near Loc Ninh, Cambodia, where he earned the Medal of Honor.
Born on Aug. 5, 1935, to poor sharecroppers in Cuero, Texas, Roy Perez Benavidez lost both of his parents by the age of 7 and was raised by his aunt and uncle. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school to help support h
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USA – Vietnam
Det B-56, 5th SFG(A)
Loc Ninh, Cambodia
Action on: May 2, 1968
Death: November 29, 1998
Master Sergeant Raul Perez “Roy” Benavidez (August 5, 1935 – November 29, 1998) was a member of the United States Army Special Forces (Studies and Observations Group) and retired United States Army master sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat nära Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968.
Benavidez enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard in 1952 during the Korean War. In June 1955, he switched from the Army National Guard to Army active duty. In 1959, he married Hilaria Coy Benavidez, completed Airborne training, and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Army Special Forces
Benavidez returned to Fort Bragg and began training for the elite Army Special Forces. Once qualified and accepted, he became a member of the 5th Special Forces Group; and the Studies and Observations Group (SOG).
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