BENNETT, John Henry
(Service number 58117)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 7 August 1898 | Place of Birth | Temuka |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Temuka | ||
| Occupation | Farmer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | John BENNETT (father), Winchester Settlement, Temuka | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 32nd Reinforcements, E Company | ||
| Date | 21 November 1917 | ||
| Transport | Maunganui | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Liverpool, Merseyside, England | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 13 July 1970 | Age | 71 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Timaru Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
John Henry Bennett, known as Jack, was born on 7 August 1898 at Temuka, the younger son of John and Jane (née Marshall) Bennett. He was educated at the local school. Jack was only nineteen years old when he embarked with the 32nd Reinforcements.
Draft 211 - the troopship “Briton” - with over a thousand men aboard including Gunner J. H. Bennett, of Temuka, was due at Lyttelton in late January 1919. Temuka’s Greatest Day” saw over twenty boys from the Temuka district welcomed home. Flags were suspended across King Street and on many buildings. As the train came into the station, the big crowd cheered the soldiers who soon found their family and friends. Preceded by the Temuka Pipe Band and the Juvenile Brass Band, they were conveyed to the Post Office for the official welcome and praise for their work. Three rousing cheers were given for the returned men and three more for the boys who were still to return. “They had done their duty, and brought back victory,” said the Mayor. “The war was practically finished, . . . .” He hoped that the future of the world would be better than the past. Gunner J. H. Bennett was among the afternoon arrivals.
Jack married Eva Annie Cross in 1930. His older brother, William James Bennett, may have been a school master at Palmerston South when he was called up in 1918.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [06 September 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [06 September 2020]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [06 September 2002]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [08 September 2020]; Temuka Leader, 25 January 1919, 1 February 1919 (Papers Past) [22 August 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
Tell us more
Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!