Tango Mike Mike — An Astonishing Tale Of Heroism

The following video tells the amazing story of Medal of Honor recipient Green Beret Roy P. Benavidez. A life filled with incredible hardships.

An orphan in Texas at the age of ten, this remarkable man joined the U.S. Army, then qualified for the Army’s elite units, airborne and then Special Forces. MSgt. Benavidez’s Army career nearly came to an end in his first tour of Viet Nam when he stepped on a land mine. He was told he would never walk again, yet through sheer force of will he recovered and made his qualifying jump to retain his airborne status.

It was later, after overcoming his serious injuries, that he was on another tour in Viet Nam where his heroic actions became legendary. He went into battle to save a Green Beret team engaged with a battalion of North Viet Namese soldiers.
He was armed with a knife.

He was so badly injured he was thought to be dead, but when the doctor tried to zip him up in a body bag, he spit in the doctors face.

MSgt. Benavidez was awarded the MoH by President Reagan, thirteen years after his heroic actions and he is also the last recipient of the MoH from the Viet Nam era.

It fills me with pride knowing such men serve this country and that he was a Texan. Not only a Texan, but a man that, despite having endured more hardships as a child than most could imagine, he was a man of honor and an example for other men to follow. His early life didn’t lead to a life of crime, but led to a man that would have his name enshrined with a select group of Americans that have distinguished themselves through “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.”

MSgt. Benavidez passed away 29 Nov 1998. In the last years of his life, after retiring from the U.S.Army, he worked with young people and offered this advice:

“An education is the key to success. Bad habits and bad company will ruin you.”

Godspeed MSgt. Benavidez. You are one of the finest examples of manhood and of the ‘sheepdog’ community, living the Special Forces motto…“De Oppresso Liber” – to liberate the oppressed.”

Now, the video of his amazing military action in 1968, sent to me by my old Air Force bud, Granpa Bob.