Tango Mike-Mike, aka Roy Benavidez, was an American Army Special Forces agent, a Green Beret trained in three of five possible specialties. In the Vietnam War, Benavidez put his training to the test, being placed in the harshest environments on Earth. On May 2nd 1968, Roy involved himself in a situation so severe it is referred to as the six hours of hell, where he singlehandedly saved at least 8 soldiers from enemy forces. Roy Benavidez and his six hours in hell warranted the Congressional Medal of Honor and the title of hero in many American hearts.
Raul (Roy) Perez Benavidez was born August 5, 1935 to a poor family in Texas.1 Both his mother and father died of tuberculosis by the time Roy was 7. His brother, Roger, and Roy moved to El Campo, Texas to live with their aunt and uncle. He spent time shining shoes and picking cotton at local farms to support his family, leading to his inevitable dropping out of school during 7th grade.2 At 17, Roy joined the Texas Army National Guard to support the Korean War and worked his way up in ranks until he joined the Green Berets, where he became certified in oceanography, meteorology, photography, interrogation, light and heavy weaponry, and linguistics.3
Returning from Europe and South America, Roy was sent to Vietnam in 1965 as an advisor. During patrol, he was paralyzed from a landmine. Doctors told Roy he would never walk again,4 but with determination and inspiration from anti-war media coverage, Roy crawled from his bed as often as possible on his elbows and chin.5 He propped himself against a wall and wiggled his toes, eventually moving his feet. During his discharge nine months later Roy explained he could walk, leading the doctor to say "Benavidez, if you walk out of this room,...
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...om dried blood, rendering himself incapable of communicating. This forced Roy to spit in the doctor's face, to show he was alive.15 The doctor ensured that Roy would survive, and after a year of rehabilitation he returned to work, stationed in Fort Riley until a transfer to Fort Sam Houston in 1972, where he continued to serve his career until retirement on September 10, 1976.16
On February 24, 1981 Roy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his duty on May 2nd 1968 and was recognized for saving at least 8 soldiers.17 In 2001, the US Navy christened the USNS Benavidez, a cargo ship. Roy became a motivational speaker for children to stay in school and defended veterans being denied benefits.18 Roy Benavidez died on November 29, 1998, but will long be remembered as an American hero who highlighted the horrors of the Vietnam War during the six hours of hell.
An aggressive pilot, due to his daring nature, a young Canadian became a legend and inspired a new generation of aces. Billy Bishop was a courageous man and the greatest fighter pilot to serve Canada during the times of war. The purpose of this essay is to learn and recognize the different contributions made by Billy Bishop and his journey to rising above his peers through strength and courage. This is true because he would go on to won 16 medals and become the first Canadian to win the Victoria Cross. First the difficult path he faced to achieving his dream will be discussed. Secondly his amazing victories and contributions during the war will be discussed. Lastly the ordeal he faced by people who believe he lied about his fights and the controversies of whether he deserved the Victoria Cross will be discussed.
The Sting is a classic story of revenge for the death of a good friend. Instead of the revenge being an eye for an eye, Hill has the leading characters get their revenge by coning the ,man responsible for the death, out of his money. Within the first ten minutes you are grabbed into the film. Hill breaks the conformity of other films by making the leading characters con-men. This is very different from other films because these men should not be looked at as the good guys but just the opposite.
9 Robin Moore, The Hunt for Bin Laden, 273. 10. Richard Kugler, Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, 12. 11. General Tommy Franks, American Soldier, 324.
These men had returned with the news of a Spanish outpost with the name Las Guasimas. By afternoon of the same day the Rough Riders had been order to head out to the location of Las Guasimas and eliminate all opposition and secure the surrounding area, the men would camp outside the outpost then attack the next morning. For started, the Rough Riders were at a disadvantage, they were not accustom to the dense jungles of Cuba in which they were fighting in, and did not know the jungles trails like the Spanish did. Yet the next morning the attack commenced, with General Young, commander of the cavalry and regulars, attacked the outpost straight on.
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Sculley Bradley, Richard Beatty, and E. Hudson Long Eds. New York: W.W. Norton, 1962.
The American Soldiers showing courage in the face of adversity during the raid has been evident throughout the research of this paper. From Cooks throwing boil pots of water, to Soldiers fighting with no shoes and half clothed. The adversary having planned and executed was not allowed to extract a devastating blow. This is a testament of the American Soldiers adaptability and courage.
Lieutenant General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, through dedication to his mission and the welfare of his marines, was a visionary leader even by today’s standards. In his youth, Chesty attempted to join World War I before he had reached the required age. He attended Virginia Military Institute, but dropped out after one year to satisfy his urge to experience combat. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a private and remained enlisted for only a year before his commissioning as a lieutenant. Unfortunately, the war ended before he was able to experience combat. When a force reduction ensued after the end of the war, Lt Puller was sent to the reserves and given the ...
Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller was born on 26th June 1898, and died on 11th October 1971. He retired in 1955 as an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps and goes down in history as the only U.S. Marine to receive five Navy Crosses. He also fought the Haiti and Nicaragua guerrillas, the Korean War, and the World War II (Russell & Cohn, 2012).
The film “Camila” was produced in 1984 and directed by Maria Luisa Bemberg (1922-1955). Based on the true story of Camila O’Gorman, an Argentine woman who falls in love with a priest in 1840’s Buenos Aires, this story dealt with the terrifying reign of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Camila is from an influential family and is betrothed to a Rosas loyalist. She is passionate and daring, just like her grandmother, and reads books that have been censored by the ruthless Rosas. When she falls in love with Father Ladislao, the two flee Buenos Aires and assume new identities as school teachers in a small village. During a party, a priest from Ladislao’s old church recognizes Ladislao and turns them both in. They are both executed by firing squad even though Camila is pregnant.
His college years took place during the height of the Vietnam War, which he personally supported. Subsequently, he joined the United States Army Reserve Officer Training Corps, but unfortunately his military career was short-lived due to his poor eyesight. After graduating in 1969 with a b...
February 1943, Murphy left for very extensive in North Africa. After he was done with his training, Murphy division was moved to invade Sicily, Italy. With everything the he was doing Murphy superior officers were very proud of him so they promoted him to Corporal. During one of his battle he ended up getting malaria, but through it all he still proved himself during battle. When Murphy was sent to France for “Operation Dragon”, one of his good friends Tipton was killed by the Germans. Murphy was so outraged that he went and killed a lot of the Germans and then took ...
Private first class Pena, Jesus deploying to Iraq. My heart was racing, lungs felt as if they were about to burst out of my chest, and my hands were shaking so rapidly that the paper could be heard from 25 feet away. My name is Staff Sergeant Pena and this is my story of my first combat tour.
The film Amistad is based on a true event that occurred in 1839. It is about a mutiny by recently captured slaves, who take over a ship known as La Amistad, and the legal battle that followed regarding their freedom. The movie begins by showing many Africans chained together on the lower deck of La Amistad. They manage to break free and go to the upper deck and attack the sailors, leading a mutiny and taking over the ship. They leave two men alive to guide them back to Africa, but they point them towards the US. When they arrive in the states, the Africans are thought to be runaway slaves, and are imprisoned. The case of their freedom is taken to court, to decide whether the Africans were originally slaves or free men. One lawyer decides to fight for them, and pleads his case that the Africans were never slaves and were indeed free men. The case eventually makes it to the Supreme Court and a translator is eventually found to communicate with the leader of the Africans, and he tells his story. He was one of many illegally captured in Africa, and sold into slavery. When the time comes for the trial, John Quincy Adams pleas for their freedom. After a grueling trial, the slaves are said to be free men, and are to be sent back to their homeland, Africa.
The film 12 Angry Men consisted of twelve members of the jury who tried to solve a murder trial case. Trapped in a room, all men put their heads together by communicating and listening to each other. Each juror voted unanimously and in order for them to make a decision every juror had to agree to the same thing. However, out of all the jurors (Henry Fonda) the architect had a different perspective. Just when all eleven jurors had agreed that the boy was guilty the architect stood up and said the boy was not guilty. The case was about a lady who had given her testimony in court swearing she saw the little boy kill his own father. One boy's fate is on one man’s hand. As the architect tried to prove his point towards the others, the old juror