25 Purple Heart Veterans America Should Never Forget

Roy Benavidez & Cordelia Cook

Roy Benavidez

Roy Benavidez was a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces (Studies and Observations Group) and retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant. He received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Loc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968.

Benavidez enlisted In June 1955 and was sent to South Vietnam in 1965 as an advisor to an Army of the Republic Vietnam Infantry Regiment. He stepped on a landmine during a patrol and was evacuated to the U.S., where doctors at Fort Sam Houston concluded he would never walk again. Stung by the diagnosis, he began an unsanctioned nightly training routine in an attempt to redevelop his ability to walk, which he would regain by July 1966.

Despite continuing pain from his wounds, he returned to South Vietnam in January 1968. On May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces patrol was surrounded by a North Vietnamese infantry battalion of about 1,000 men. Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond. After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez spat in his face, alerting the doctor that he was alive.

The six-hour battle left Benavidez with seven major gunshot wounds, 28 fragmentation holes, and both his arms were slashed by a bayonet. He had fragments in his head, scalp, and his right lung was destroyed. He had injuries to his mouth and back of his head from being clubbed with a rifle butt. A bullet shot from an AK-47 entered his back and exited just beneath his heart. Benavidez was evacuated to Fort Sam Houston's Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and he spent almost a year in hospitals recovering from his injuries. The recommendation for the Distinguished Service Cross was rushed through approval channels. On September 10, 1968, at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Benavidez, where he would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart.

Cordelia Cook

Cordelia Cook, a combat nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II. She became a surgical nurse with the rank of first lieutenant. The field hospital in Italy she worked at was bombed in 1943, and despite the dangers, she continued her nursing duties. She received a Bronze Star Medal award for her service, being the first woman to receive the award. Cook sustained a shrapnel wound from German artillery fire while carrying out her duties and received the Purple Heart award, becoming the first woman to receive both the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart awards.

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