A Helluva Story About A Helluva Man

Roy Benevidez was a awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the firefight that has been called “Six Hours in hell.” In April of 1968, an American unit was on patrol west of Loc Ninh, near the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border when they ran into a 1,000-man NVA infantry battalion. Benevidez voluntarily boarded a helicopter to reinforce the unit, and was dropped into the fight for his life. Benevidez ran to the pinned down unit after being dropped off. On the way, he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. He took control of the soldiers, dragged half of the wounded to a Medevec helicopter, and then ran alongside the helicopter as it moved to pick up more wounded. As Benevidez went back to secure classified documents from the body of a dead soldier, the helicopter’s pilot was mortally wounded, and the aircraft crashed. Benevidez secured the documents, went back to the helicopter, and aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft. He guided the men to a defensive position and called in airstrikes. When another helicopter came, he ferried the wounded, killed one NVA soldier in hand-to-hand combat, and killed two others that were charging the helicopter from behind it. After making sure all the wounded were on board, Benevidez collapsed, but was pulled onto the helicopter. Thinking he was dead, a doctor put him in a body bag and only stopped zipping it up when Benevidez spat in his face. Benavidez sustained seven major gunshot wounds, had shrapnel in his head, scalp, shoulder, buttocks, feet, and legs, had both his arms slashed by a bayonet, and had a collapsed lung. He was originally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross because his superiors thought he would die and wanted him to be awarded before his death. In 1981, his award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

H/T to Ed in Moulton