A call from the Human Resource Command at Ft. Knox, Kentucky gave a former 12th Cavalry trooper, Perry Benally, some good news on August 12, 2011. Benally was approved for the award of the Silver Star, our nation’s 3rd highest award for gallantry in action almost 44 years after the action in South Vietnam.

On December 15, 1967, Perry’s platoon was moving forward in company formation when his unit walked into a trench line of North Vietnamese Army soldiers. Eight men in his platoon were immediately killed and Perry was wounded in the chest and leg. Then he was shot in the temple by an enemy machine gunner. His comrades could not see him, though he shot and killed an ambush party that was trying to shoot the medic and other soldiers who rushed forward to provide aid. After three unsuccessful tries at finding Benally, his platoon gave him up for dead. But, the NVA soldiers knew he wasn’t dead. They kept trying to advance toward him. He ran out of ammunition and threw two hand grenades toward the enemy in order to cover his withdrawal back to a graveyard that he could see. Two NVA soldiers tried to take him prisoner. He engaged them in hand to hand fighting and killed them with his empty rifle. He spent the rest of the night in the graveyard surrounded by the enemy. The next morning on December 16, 1967, the 3rd platoon of Charlie Company, 1st/12th Cavalry, encountered Benally during an assault on the NVA. One of the soldiers with the 3rd platoon spotted Benally and aimed his rifle at him, thinking he was an NVA soldier. Another platoon member stopped him and Benally was rescued. He was treated and medevaced by Joe “Doc” O’Keefe of Charlie Company.

Charles Church, former company clerk for C 1st/12th typed up paperwork for a Silver Star for Benally, but the paperwork was evidentially lost when the company moved north to Quang Tri in January, 1968. When Benally was located two years ago, it was learned that he had never received the award, for which, he had been nominated. Church called Doug Warden, a friend of Benally’s, and told him about Benally having never received his award. Warden, along with Joe O’Keefe and Charles Church, began the process of nominating Benally, again, for the award of the Silver Star. After locating former Company Commander, Denis A. Lentsch, former battalion commander, MG Dan French and former brigade commander, MG Donald Rattan, the paperwork was submitted and approved after a 17 month ordeal.

Benally will receive his Silver Star at an awards ceremony during the Navajo Nation Fair at Window Rock Arizona on September 9th. In attendance will be New Mexico Senator Tom Udall and New Mexico Representative Ben Ray Lujan, along with the surviving Navajo Code Talkers and the Veteran’s Organization for the Navajo. 12th Cavalry Regiment Association members Terry Combs, Thomas Crabtree, Doug Warden and Rich Valles will be in attendance for the ceremony.