Roy Benavidez Master Sergeant Raul ( Roy ) Perez Benavidez ( August 5 , 1935 – November 29 , 1998 ) was a member of the Studies and Observations Group of the United States Army . He received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat near Lộc Ninh , South Vietnam on May 2 , 1968 . Childhood and early life . Roy P . Benavidez was born in Lindenau near Cuero , Texas in DeWitt County . He was the son of a Mexican father and a Yaqui Indian mother . When he was two years old , his father died of tuberculosis and his mother remarried . Five years later , his mother died from tuberculosis too . Benavidez and his younger brother , Roger moved to El Campo , where their grandfather , uncle and aunt raised them along with eight cousins . Benavidez shined shoes at the local bus station , labored on farms in Texas and Colorado , and worked at a tire shop in El Campo . He attended school sporadically , and at the age 15 he dropped out to work full - time to help support the family . Military career . In 1952 , during the Korean War , Benavidez enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard . In June 1955 , he enlisted in the regular United States Army . He married Hilaria Coy Benavidezin 1959 , the year he completed his airborne training and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg . In 1965 he was sent to South Vietnam as an advisor to an ARVN infantry regiment . He stepped on a land mine during a patrol and was evacuated to the United States , where doctors at Fort Sam Houston concluded he would never walk again and began preparing his medical discharge papers . As Benavidez noted in his 1981 MOH acceptance speech , stung by the diagnosis , as well as flag burning s and media criticism of the US military presence in Vietnam he saw on TV , he began an unsanctioned nightly training ritual in an attempt to redevelop his ability to walk . Getting out of bed at night ( against doctors orders ) , Benavidez would crawl using his elbows and chin to a wall near his bedside and ( with the encouragement of his fellow patients , many of whom were permanently paralyzed and / or missing limbs ) , he would prop himself against the wall and attempt to lift himself unaided , starting by wiggling his toes , then his feet , and then eventually ( after several months of excruciating practice that by his own admission often left him in tears ) pushing himself up the wall with his ankles and legs . After over a year of hospitalization , Benavidez walked out of the hospital in July 1966 , with his wife at his side , determined to return to combat in Vietnam . Benavidez returned to Fort Bragg to begin training for the elite Studies and Observations Group ( SOG ) . Despite continuing pain from his wounds , he became a member of the 5th Special Forces Group and returned to South Vietnam in January 1968 . On May 2 , 1968 , a 12 - man Special Forces team was surrounded by a NVA battalion . Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond . Armed only with a knife , he jumped from the helicopter carrying a medical bag and rushed to join the trapped team . Benavidez " distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely glorious actions . . . and because of his gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits , to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire , and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds , saved the lives of at least eight men . " He was believed dead after finally being evacuated and was being zipped up in a body bag when he mustered the last of his strength and spit in the face of a medic , thereby alerting nearby medical personnel that he was still alive . ( see medal citation below ) Nearly dead from a total of 37 separate bayonet , bullet and shrapnel wounds received on multiple occasions over the course of the six hour fight between the 13 men and an enemy battalion , Benavidez was evacuated once again to Brooke Army Medical Center , where he eventually recovered . For his heroism , the Army awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross . In 1973 , after more detailed accounts became available , Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Ralph R . Drake insisted that Benavidez receive the Medal of Honor . By then , however , the time limit on the medal had expired . An appeal to Congress resulted in an exemption for Benavidez , but the Army Decorations Board still denied him the Medal of Honor . The board required an eyewitness account from someone present during the action , but Benavidez thought that no others were alive who had been at the " Six Hours in Hell . " In 1980 , however , Brian O ' Connor , a radioman in the attacked Special Forces team , provided a ten - page report of the engagement . O ' Connor had been severely wounded ( Benavidez had believed him dead ) , and was evacuated to the United States before his superiors could fully debrief him . O ' Connor learned that Benavidez was alive by chance . He had been living in the Fiji Islands and was on holiday in Australia when he read a newspaper account of Benavidez from an El Campo newspaper . It had been picked up by the international press and reprinted in Australia . O ' Connor soon contacted his old friend and submitted his report , confirming the accounts already provided by others and providing the missing eyewitness . On February 24 , 1981 , President Ronald Reagan presented Roy P . Benavidez the Medal of Honor . Reagan reportedly turned to the press and said : " If the story of his heroism were a movie script , you would not believe it " . He then read the official award citation . Medal of Honor citation . BENAVIDEZ , ROY P . " Rank and organization : " Master Sergeant . Organization : Detachment B - 56 , 5th Special Forces Group , Republic of Vietnam " Place and date : " West of Loc Ninh on May 2 , 1968 " Entered service at : " Houston , Texas June 1955 " Born : " August 5 , 1935 , DeWitt County , Cuero , Texas . " Citation : " Master Sergeant ( then Staff Sergeant ) Roy P . Benavidez United States Army , who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B56 , 5th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) , 1st Special Forces , Republic of Vietnam . Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off - load wounded crewmembers and to assess aircraft damage . Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt . Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone , he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter , and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team . Prior to reaching the team ' s position he was wounded in his right leg , face , and head . Despite these painful injuries , he took charge , repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft , and the loading of wounded and dead team members . He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team ' s position . Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire , he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft . He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members . As the enemy ' s fire intensified , he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader . Only then , in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood , did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft . Sergeant Benavidez ' gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits , to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire , and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds , saved the lives of at least eight men . His fearless personal leadership , tenacious devotion to duty , and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service , and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army . Retirement . Despite the severe injuries Master Sergeant Benavidez sustained in Vietnam , he continued serving the Army and was assigned to Fort Riley , Kansas , Fort Devens , Massachusetts , and Fort Sam Houston , Texas . In August 1976 he retired from the United States Army as a Master Sergeant . Benavidez , his wife , and their three children then returned home to El Campo , Texas . Benavidez devoted his remaining years to the youth of America , speaking to them about the importance of staying in school and getting an education . His message was simple : " An education is the key to success . Bad habits and bad company will ruin you . " In 1983 , Benavidez told the press that the Social Security Administration planned to cut off disability payments he had been receiving since retirement , as well as the disability payments for thousands of other veterans . He went to Capitol Hill on their behalf and pleaded with the House Select Committee on Aging to abandon their plans , which they finally did . Benavidez was in demand as a speaker by United States armed forces , schools , military and civic groups , and private businesses . He also spoke in Greece , Panama , Korea , and Japan , where he visited American military personnel and even joined them on field exercises . He received complimentary letters from students , service members , and private citizens throughout the world . He wrote three autobiographical books about his life and military experience . In 1986 , he published " The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez " , which described his struggles growing up as a poor Mexican - American orphan , his military training and combat in Vietnam , and the efforts by others to get recognition for his actions in Vietnam . Benavidez later wrote " The Last Medal of Honor " ( Texas : Swan Publishers , 1991 ) with Pete Billac and " Medal of Honor : A Vietnam Warrior ' s Story " in 1995 . Death . Roy Benavidez died on November 29 , 1998 , at the age of 63 at Brooke Army Medical Center , having suffered respiratory failure and complications of diabetes . His body was escorted to St . Robert Bellarmine ' s Catholic Church , where he had married , where his three children were married , where he attended Mass every Sunday . He was then returned to Fort Sam Houston ' s Main Chapel for a public viewing . Family friend Archbishop Patrick Flores of the San Antonio Dioceses presided over a Catholic funeral mass at San Fernando Cathedral located in San Antonio . Benavidez was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery . Awards , honors , and recognitions . Military decorations . Among Benavidez ' s decorations and medals were the following : Honors and recognitions . There are a number of institutions and buildings that bear Benavidez ' s name . These include : The conference Room owned and operated by the Department of Military Instruction of the United States Military Academy is the " Benavidez Room " . Inside the " Benavidez Room " there are signed pictures of MSG Benavidez , the citation from his Medal of Honor , and a G . I . Joe toy created in his likeness . The room is used primarily for planning Cadet Summer Military Training and hosting visitors .