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For the next 6 hours, Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez performed feats worthy of earning the Congressional Medal of Honor.
On one trip, “he was clubbed in the jaw by an NVA soldier and run through with a bayonet. Benavidez killed the soldier with his knife and continued moving injured team members to the helicopter while holding in his intestines and killing two more NVA soldiers preparing to kill the helicopter pilot.”
Benavidez suffered a total of 37 bayonet, bullet and shrapnel wounds. He later wrote, “Every movement brought a hail of gunfire. Men were crying and screaming for help. I was one of them. We were going to die.”
Throughout the chaos, Master Sgt. Benavidez maintained a cool head, positioning men in defensive formation and calling in airstrikes, all while rendering first aid.
Benavidez awoke in a Saigon hospital, laying on a gurney. He recalled, “tubes sticking in every opening in my body.” He was in agonizing pain, aided only by massive doses of narcotics. He faded in and out of consciousness. A doctor thought he was dead and started zipping him up in a body bag. With all the strength he could muster, Benavidez spit blood at the doctor to show he was still alive.
During his Congressional Medal of Honor Ceremony, President Ronald Reagan stated,” If it were a Hollywood movie script, you wouldn’t believe it,” describing Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez’s actions that fateful day.
Even to this day, when Special Forces members are involved in a firefight, and things are going badly, or courage needs to be summoned, they call out, “Tango! Mike! Mike!” Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez’s radio call sign. He is that legendary!
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