On May 2, 1968 at 1:30 p.m., a chaplain was holding a prayer service around a jeep at Loc Ninh, a Green Beret outpost near the Cambodian border.

During this service, the group heard a short-wave radio broadcast from a twelve-man team requesting assistance. The team consisted of Sgt. First Class Leroy Wright, Staff Sergeant Lloyd "Frenchie" Mousseau, Spec 4 Brian O'Connor and nine Nung tribesmen. The team had found itself surrounded by a North Vietnamese army battalion.

Master Sergeant Benavidez did not wait for orders or equipment. He boarded a rescue helicopter armed with nothing more than the bowie knife on his belt. The rescue team spotted the pinned soldiers in a tight circle. A few hundred enemy troops surrounded them in the jungle, some within 25 yards of the Americans' position.

The rescue helicopter was fired upon and had to retreat to a small clearing some seventy-five yards away. The helicopter hovered over the clearing and Master Sergeant Benavidez jumped out. As he ran towards the trapped men, an AK-47 slug hit him almost immediately.

Master Sergeant Benavidez stumbled and fell, but got back. He then continued running to the brush pile where Wright's men lay. An exploding hand grenade then knocked him down and ripped his face with shrapnel. But Master Sergeant Benavidez got up again and continued.

When he arrived he found four of the soldiers were dead and the other eight were wounded and pinned down in two groups. Master Sergeant Benavidez bound their wounds, injected morphine and, passed around ammunition that he had taken from several bodies.

Master Sergeant Benavidez armed himself with an AK-47 and started calling in air strikes. While doing this, he was shot again in the right thigh, his second gunshot wound. He then helped drag the dead and wounded aboard a rescue helicopter.

Master Sergeant Benavidez then spotted the body of the team leader Sergeant First Class Wright. Ordering the other soldiers to crawl toward the chopper, he retrieved a pouch dangling from the dead man's neck; in the pouch were classified papers with radio codes and call signs. As he shoved the papers into his shirt, a bullet struck his stomach and a grenade shattered his back. The helicopter, barely off the ground, suddenly crashed, its pilot shot dead.

Master Sergeant Benavidez made his way to the helicopter and pulled the wounded from the wreckage, forming a small perimeter. As he passed out ammunition taken from the dead, the air support he had earlier radioed for arrived. Jets and helicopter gunships strafed threatening enemy soldiers.

While mortar shells burst everywhere, Master Sergeant Benavidez called in Phantoms "danger close". Enemy fire raked the perimeter. Several of the wounded were hit again, including Benavidez. By this time he had blood streaming down his face, blinding him. Still he called in air strikes, adjusting their targets by sound. Several times, pilots thought he was dead, but then his voice would come back on the radio, calling for closer strikes.

Finally, a rescue helicopter landed. As Master Sergeant Benavidez carried a seriously wounded Frenchie Mousseau over his shoulder a fallen NVA soldier stood up, swung his rifle and clubbed Master Sergeant Benavidez in the head. He fell, rolled over and got up just as the soldier lunged forward with his bayonet. Master Sergeant Benavidez grabbed it, slashing his right hand, and pulled his attacker toward him. With his left hand, he drew his own bowie knife and stabbed the NVA but not before the bayonet poked completely through his left forearm.

As Master Sergeant Benavidez dragged Mousseau to the chopper, he saw two more NVA materialize out of the jungle. He snatched a fallen AK-47 rifle and shot both. Master Sergeant Benavidez made one more trip to the clearing and came back with a Vietnamese interpreter.

As the chopper lumbered into the air, Master Sergeant Benavidez was holding in his intestines with his hand. Bleeding almost into unconsciousness, he lay against the badly wounded Mousseau and held his hand.

As the medevac chopper landed the wounded were examined one by one. Staff Sergeant Benavidez could only hear what was going on around him. He had over thirty seven puncture wounds. His intestines were exposed. He could not see as his eyes were caked in blood and unable to open.

Neither could he speak, his jaw broken, clubbed by a North Vietnamese rifle. Jerry Cottingham, a friend screamed "That's Benavidez. Get a doc". When the doctor arrived he placed his hand on Master Sergeant Benavidez' chest to feel for a heartbeat. He pronounced him dead. The physician shook his head. "There's nothing I can do for him."

As the doctor bent over to zip up the body bag. Master Sergeant Benavidez did the only thing he could think of to let the doctor know that he was alive. He spit in the doctor's face. The surprised doctor reversed Master Sergeant Benavidez' condition from dead to "He won't make it, but we'll try".

Master Sergeant Benavidez spent almost a year in hospitals to recover from his injuries. He had seven major gunshot wounds; twenty-eight shrapnel holes; and both arms had been slashed by a bayonet. He had shrapnel in his head, scalp, shoulder, buttocks, feet, and legs. His right lung was destroyed. He had injuries to his mouth and back of his head from being clubbed with a rifle butt. One of the AK-47 bullets had entered his back exiting just beneath his heart.

Wright and Mousseau were each awarded the Distinguish Service Cross posthumously. Although Master Sergeant Benavidez's commander felt that he deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor in saving eight lives, he put Roy in for the Distinguished Service Cross. The process for awarding a Medal of Honor would have taken much longer, and he was sure Master Sergeant Benavidez would die before he got it.

The recommendation for the Distinguish Service Cross was rushed through approval channels and Master Sergeant Benavidez was presented the award by General William C. Westmoreland while he was recovering from his wounds at Fort Sam Houston's Hospital.

Years later, his former commander learned that Master Sergeant Benavidez had survived the war. The officer also learned more details of the sergeant's mission and concluded that Master Sergeant Benavidez merited a higher honor. Years of red tape followed until finally on February 24, 1981, President Reagan told White House reporters "you are going to hear something you would not believe if it were a script." Reagan then presented Master Sergeant Benavidez' Citation for the Medal of Honor.

Master Sergeant Benavidez however, did not regard himself as a hero. He said of his actions. "The real heroes are the ones who gave their lives for their country, I don't like to be called a hero. I just did what I was trained to do."

In addition to being a recipient of the Medal Of Honor, Master Sergeant Benavidez was the recipient of the Combat Infantry Badge for his Viet Nam war service, the Purple Heart Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Viet Nam Campaign Medal with 4 Battle Stars, Viet Nam Service Medal, Air Medal, Master Parachutist Badge, Vietnamese Parachutist Badge, Republic of Viet Nam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, and other numerous decorations.

Upon retirement Master Sergeant Benavidez lived in El Campo, Texas, with his wife, Lala, and three children, Noel,Yvette and Denise. He was a member of the: Medal of Honor Society, Legion of Valor, Veterans of Foreign War, Special Operations Association, Alamo Silver Wings Airborne Association, and Special Forces Association, The 82nd Airborne Association,West Point Honorary Alumni Association, and countless other organizations.

Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez died on November 29, 1998. Over 1,500 people attended his funeral to say goodbye. He is buried in the shade of a live oak tree at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, a fitting final resting-place for someone who gave so much of himself to this great nation.

In addition to his heroic actions in combat, he will also be remembered for his work with youths. He spoke at schools and colleges and even runaway shelters. He promoted patriotism, staying-in school, encouraged continuing education, and drug free programs for students. Vision Quest, an organization known for working with problem youths, named a youth boot camp Fort Roy P. Benavidez in Uvalde, Texas after him. Master Sergeant Benavidez was further recognized by the naming of the Roy P. Benavidez Elementary School in Houston, Texas.