Bennear, Robert B., PFC

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS ROBERT B. BENNEAR WORKED AS A TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH REPAIRMAN BEFORE ENTERING THE SERVICE ON 3 AUGUST 1942. HE SERVED IN EUROPE WITH HEADQUARTERS COMPANY 354TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 89TH INFANTRY DIVISION FROM 21 JANUARY 1945 TO 14 DECEMBER 1945. AFTER RETURNING STATESIDE PFC BENNEAR WAS HONORABLY DISCHARGED ON 28 DECEMBER 1945 AT FORT MEADE MARYLAND. ROBERT B. BENNEAR PASSED AWAY ON 14 NOVEMBER 1999 AT LAKELAND FLORIDA.

I WAS UNABLE TO FIND A CITATION FOR PFC BENNEAR'S SILVER STAR BUT THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ON THE 89TH'S WEBSITE MAY GIVE SOME INSIGHT.

During the morning a Regimental wire crew, working along the west bank of the Rhine, was subjected to heavy enemy machine gun and 20mm fire which forced them to take cover in a cave. Pfc. Robert B. Bennear, Regimental Hq Co., the crew's driver, heard a call for help from two wounded men who had drifted ashore. He left the cave and went down to the shore to the men amid a hail of enemy fire. One by one he carried them to his quarter ton truck and drove them a mile along a fire-swept road that bordered the river to the 1st Battalion aid station. Then he drove back over the same hazardous route to return to his crew in their cave.

- FROM THE 89TH INFANTRY DIVISION WEBSITE

THE FULL ARTICLE-

http://www.89infdivww2.org/memories/354_14.htm