"President Ronald Reagan......asked Roy to use the next part of his life working with youth.  Roy said that he considered that his new mission assignment, directly from his Commander in Chief."

I became reacquainted with MSG Roy P. Benavidez when I was working as Pastoral Associate in St. Robert Bellarmine Church in El Campo, where Roy and his family were members.  He reminded me that we had attended school together in Cuero, at St. Michael's School, Cuero, Texas.  We were taught by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament from Victoria, Texas.  It had been in the early grades, since at a young age, he had moved to El Campo with his brother, Rogelio. Photo: Sr. Elizabeth with picture and miniature bust of Roy Benavidez, 2002, San Antonio, Roy Benavidez Elementary School Dedication.  MABS photo.

I began to recall their story.  And I was very happy that the Lord had brought me to a place where we could renew that friendship and continue the journey of life as fellow members of St. Robert's.  There, during a private conversation with Roy, one day, when he was still very active in traveling throughout this country and the world speaking to youth--a work to which he was totally dedicated--he shared with me the fact that on the day that President Ronald Reagan had presented him with the Medal of Honor, he had also asked Roy to use the next part of his life working with youth. Roy said that he considered that his new mission assignment, directly from his Commander in Chief. 

It was obvious that he set about this mission with the same dedication and energy that he had brought to that heroic act on May 2, 1968, when he literally put his own life in jeopardy in order to save his brother-soldiers.  Roy was now laying down his life, as he lived, for his "little brothers", in whom he saw the same potentials that he had realized in his own life.  And he did this with full energy until he could go no more.  Even then, when he was in and out of hospitals in Houston and San Antonio, and approaching his last days, his spirit fought long and hard for life, not so much for himself.  For at that time, he shared with me in another conversation that his greatest regret was not the physical suffering and the emotional pain of being defeated by it, but rather the fact that he could no longer accomplish his mission--no longer travel to keep his commitments to the youth of America.  That was his only regret in the midst of his own illness and pain.

"Only the Lord knows just how many lives have been changed--even saved--by Roy's words and example"

So, to me, Roy was a hero to the last.  He was dedicated to fulfilling the mission given to him to the last.  And the great honor that his country had bestowed upon him was no reason to "rest on his laurels", but a moment in his life that had only brought him a new, transformed mission.  And for that mission, he also laid down the rest of his life.  Only the Lord knows just how many lives have been changed--even saved--by Roy's words and example.  But if any youth who heard him are lost, anyway, it will surely not be the fault of Roy, who was willing to lay down his life for them, also.

It is a continuing inspiration for me to have known Roy, and a privilege to be considered a friend to his family. I have often thought of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John on the night before He was to lay down His own life "Greater Love than this no man has, than he should lay down His life for his friends."   Roy demonstrated that kind of capacity to love his fellow man and little brothers to the end.  And the best way to honor his memory, in my opinion, is for us to do the same.

Article by:
Sr. Elizabeth Riebschlaeger, ccvi
Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, Texas