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Counting his Blessings

Photo By Spc. Eric Liesse | Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy Benavidez, senior non-commissioned officer of Joint Task...... read more read more

12.26.2008

Courtesy Story

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

By the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs Office

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy Benavidez, the Joint Task Force motor pool non-commissioned officer in charge, is known to everyone at the motor pool as a hard working and easy going Trooper, quick to smile and laugh, and just as quick to tell you about his latest fishing trip. What most people don't know about him is that for eight years of his life, Benavidez lived in an orphanage in England.

His father, native New Mexican Jose Benavidez, was stationed at England's Lakenheath Air Force Base. There Jose met and married Joyce Last, an English citizen residing in Brentwood. Benavidez was born a year later in 1958, but his parents soon divorced and his father returned to New Mexico. His mother suffered a series of seizures and developed a nervous disorder that kept her from supporting and caring for Benavidez.

Believing his father had abandoned him and his mother unable to care for him, social workers placed Benavidez in foster care. At age 8 he was placed in Harris Lodge, an orphanage located in Rayleigh, approximately 45 miles from London.

Harris Lodge was a three-story castle-like building. An elderly English couple in charge lived in an apartment located on the top floor of the lodge, and mostly supervised the lodge employees – a cook, a cleaning lady, and a large middle-aged man known as "Uncle Ron." Uncle Ron lived on the same floor as the residents and slept with his bedroom door open – a room strategically located between the girls' open bay dorm and the boys' open bay dorm. He was a tough but fair disciplinarian who enforced all lodge rules for the approximately 30 residents, some of whom were true orphans.

Meals at the lodge were always the highlight and lowlight of Benavidez's day. He was always hungry, but the food was always bland and never enough. Residents were served three meals at designated times. Those who missed a meal did not eat until the next meal was served. Uncle Ron would walk around the tables and enforce the lodge rule that everything served had to be eaten. Once meal time was over, the cook locked all food in a kitchen pantry.

Breakfast at the lodge was always the same: porridge and boiled eggs. Lunch and dinner consisted of bland pot roasts, including a dish called Toad in the Hole (a potato pot roast with whole sausages),Yorkshire pudding and occasionally lamb chops. Residents would fight or barter for bread edges to wipe the fat drippings from the roasts or lamb chops. The only time they drank anything besides water was at supper, when a large hot pot of tea was served. At no time at Harris Lodge was Benavidez ever served snacks or fast food.

All residents were required to do chores – primarily cleaning their dormitory, washing dishes and shining shoes. Each resident took a turn shining everyone else's school uniform shoes. During the school year, they were required to do their homework prior to lights being turned off at 9 p.m.

There was one television, and Uncle Ron picked the program that everyone would watch.

When not wearing their school uniforms, the residents wore hand-me-down clothing donated to the lodge by various charities. Residents were allowed to earn money by doing work outside the lodge. Most earned extra money working at a nearby farm picking bushels of peas during harvest season.

To break up the monotony, or simply for sheer adventure, Benavidez ran away numerous times. He and a fellow resident named Colin would typically sneak out their dormitory window, go down the fire escape, and ride the train into nearby London. They would visit local bakeries and ask or beg for sweet bread or other exotic baked goods unavailable at the orphanage. They would then wander aimlessly around London before hiking back, usually stopping to sleep in an empty barn with a haystack. The next day, the farmer would discover them, call the police, and Benavidez and Colin would be returned to the lodge. They would dutifully accept their punishment for running away – usually extra shoe-shining duty.

As he neared his 16th birthday, social workers were determining where next to place him as the orphanage age limit was 16. During a visit to his mother's house, a social worker discovered a stack of letters from Jose – letters that his mother had never let him see. The social workers helped Benavidez contact his father, who agreed to take immediate custody. A couple days later, he was taken to Heathrow Airport on his way to his new home in Albuquerque, N.M.

There, Benavidez experienced culture shock. Speaking with a thick English accent, his fellow students at Rio Grande High School laughed at him as he struggled to pronounce his own Spanish surname. Football, baseball and basketball were completely alien to him – he had grown up playing cricket, rugby and soccer. The food in New Mexico was different too – he had never seen an avocado, much less eaten guacamole.

In due course, he lost his English accent, learned some Spanish and, despite adjusting to a different country and culture, he considers himself the luckiest person in the world. Unlike many of his mates at Harris Lodge, he experienced being part of a family, living with his family, being hugged and mentored by a parent.

When his JTF deployment ends, Benavidez will return to his family in New Mexico and spend every spare minute he can with his wife, children and extended family. Knowing what it's like to live in an institution without any family, Benavidez never takes his family for granted.