Book signing at El Campo library honors author, hero Benavidez | Lifestyle

An associate professor of history, Sturkey specializes in the history of race in the American South since 1865, with a focus on marginalized people.

At the library, Sturkey spoke about America’s wars and his own conflicting emotions when he saw some veterans hailed as heroes while others were dying by suicide at an alarming rate.

“So many people I knew went to war and I [have] not, and like many young men, I thought about it, ultimately did not join the military myself, but I was also always very sympathetic with my friends,” Sturkey said.

His inspiration and motivation to write the book on Benavidez happened 20 years ago when he was researching war related stories at university computers and he came across a front-page story from 1983.

The story was about Benavidez, a decorated veteran who completed two tours of Vietnam and received the Medal of Honor, leaving the military and, two years later, losing his disability benefits.

“That was sort of the engine that I have in writing the book, and that was almost 20 years ago,” Sturkey said.

Sturkey gave his background in researching and writing the book on Benavidez, talked about meeting the family and doing justice to the story of an American hero before opening the floor to questions from the audience.

“What did you discover about Roy that, maybe the rest of us, we don’t know about?” Chris Barbee asked the author.

Sturkey explained that, a lot of people know Benavidez came from poverty, but the author questioned how he and his family became poor.

“I had no idea his family had lived in Texas for over a hundred years before he was born,” Sturkey said, “I just had no idea about the world of the Tejano families that lived in Texas and settled here, way before Texas became a part of the United States of America.”

Sturkey explained that the Benavidez family had more than 4,000 acres of farmland in 1816, and a generation or two later it was all gone.

“And, that happened in two different places, not just one place in Texas,” Sturkey said.

With question prompts from the audience, Sturkey went on to detail his research for the book and travels around the world to stand where Benavidez once stood.

An audience member taking video told everyone about a new museum for veterans being built between the Dallas Cowboy stadium and the Texas Rangers museum, but he veered off to address a veteran in the audience, asking him to stand and speak about Benavidez.

Efrain Martinez, a friend of Benavidez’ family for more than 30 years, addressed Garcia, a veteran in the audience, asking him to speak on Roy’s life and Garcia’s relationship with him.

“José Guadalupe Garcia, who spent 20 years in the Air Force, but he practically lived with Roy his last years of his life, I call him Roy’s traveling secretary. I’d like to see, what did Roy think in the days you were with him?” Martinez said.

“It’s not easy. Roy never liked to talk about what he did, he was a very gentle man,” Garcia said.

Garcia worked with Benavidez for 14 years. He was with Benavidez all over the world, meeting presidents, generals and dignitaries of other countries.

“He never even looked like he was worried about something or that he couldn’t handle the situation. He was just a real kind man, who loved people, and he was so happy to be involved, and in a place where the real Roy came out,” Garcia said.

Sturkey answered a few more questions before signing books for guests. Visitors could purchase books for signing from Benavidez’ family members at the event.