Green Beret's tale one of indomitable bravery

This tale is about Green Beret Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez who served during Vietnam.

Benavidez earned the Medal of Honor when he ran into enemy fire, armed only with a knife, to save his fellow soldiers, sustaining such severe injuries that the medics put him into a body bag. In 1965, (when I was also there) he had stepped on a land mine and doctors said he would never walk again, but he defied their expectations and did, but his greatest test was yet to come.

In 1968, after recovering, he was in his second tour in Vietnam. He heard the crackling call for help on the radio. A Special Forces team was trapped near the Cambodian border. Without orders, and armed only with a knife, he jumped into the helicopter whose radio, he had been listening to in Loc Ninh (I have been there). The story seems almost unbelievable. A 12-man team (three Green Berets and nine indigenous soldiers) had been deployed on a secret mission and had run into trouble; they were vastly outnumbered. Three helicopters had failed to rescue them.

On the second rescue mission, Benavidez jumped into one of the helicopters. When on site, he jumped out and ran the 75 yards through enemy fire toward the trapped men. He was shot in the face and struck with shrapnel from a grenade, but he made it.

This began his "six hours in hell." He grabbed an AK-47 from one of the killed indigenous soldiers and began returning fire along with his comrades. The helicopters had left and were nearby, when there was some relief from incoming fire, he radioed for a helicopter to come in and rescue some that could walk. The helicopter pilot was shot and killed and the chopper crashed. He ran to the crash site to rescue the other survivors. 

The battle continued with Benavidez leading the fight. He was shot in the stomach, and another grenade fragments hit him in the back. He continued the fight, and finally got helicopter gunships in to destroy most of the enemy. While evacuating his wounded men, an enemy soldier bayoneted him in the stomach. He then killed that soldier with his knife.

When they put him in the helicopter, he couldn't move or talk, they were putting him in a body bag, thinking he was dead. So he spit in the medic's face and was evacuated. All told, he had 37 bullet, shrapnel and bayonet wounds and survived. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor by President Ronald Reagan.