Personal History

I was born in Holden, UT on September 7, 1919 to Edward Bennett and Estella Ashby Bennett. I was the fourth child of the family of six. My younger brother, Howard, was killed in Nov of 1942 while hunting. I had a good childhood and still remember some of the fun things we did. I was one of the best stick horse riders in the county, or maybe even the state.

At the age of six I started to school. The first day was quite funny. At this time there was a family of two Japs down to Greenwood who went to school in Holden. I had heard so much about them I was afraid. So about the time I got to the old Dance Hall, they were getting out of the bus or car and upon seeing them I panicked, and down the street I went. Only the speed of my sister Lula stopped me from being a coward.

Some of my teachers were Mrs. Barton, Miss Hanson, Myrtle Young Nixon, Lettie A. Stevens, and Mark L Bennett. Seems we all had a good time at school, even if I didn’t learn much. We would sleigh ride and skate in the winter. In the spring we would play Old Sow and basketball.

I started to High School in 1934 in Fillmore. The buses were cold in those days, so in the winter we had cold feet. My friends were Don Turner, George Shaw, Garr Bennett, Wesley Stephenson, Chester Johnson, Bryce Johnson, Douglas Crosland, George Stephenson and George and Arthur Jackson.

When we were in our teens we would go on the mountain for a few days and have a good time. I remember one time when we were up there a cloud burst hit. In a few minutes all the little washes were filled with water. The one going by the old stable in the Pioneer Ranger Station was filled and really roaring. We all stayed in the stable nice and dry, and thought nothing of it. But on our returning home the next day we found the town had had a flood. There was mud on the =lawns and such. Mom had tried to get Dad to come up to see if we were alright. I guess they had been really worried about us.

While I was in my teens I went to a lot of dances and took quite a few different girls. But one stayed with me and is now my wife. She is, in my opinion, on fine person and I love her very much.

In the Spring of 1941 I got my draft notice. I was to go in the army in October of the same year. Delma and I decided to get married at Christmas time or on my first leave. Three years later when I first got home we decided to wait until I was discharged. This we did.

In the army I took my basic training at Camp Roberts, which at that time was the largest training camp in the country. I only got seven weeks of training before Pearl Harbor at which time I was sent to Washington State where we were reassigned to a Montana Division, the forty first division. For four months we were on guard at a water generated power plant. The people there were very nervous for fear of a Japanese invasion, which never came off.

In April we went to California where we boarded the Queen Elizabeth for parts unknown. The Army rumors flew thick and fast, a new one every few minutes. We ended up in Sidney, Australia Harbor eleven days later. That was one place we hadn’t heard of in all the rumors. The people there seemed to be very nice and were glad to see us. They were afraid of a Japanese invasion also. The Japanese army was in New Guinea, which is very close to Australia, so they had plenty to worry about. We were on guard along the coast until December of 1942 at which time we were loaded on ships and sent to New guinea. Christmas of ’42 was spent on a ship in the Coral Sea. We landed at Port Morsby and started to relieve the thirty second division.

On the first of January, 1943 I was flown over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range. Due to the size of the runways only small planes were used, one squad of men at a time, so it took a long time for the Regulars to get on the other side. I never saw so much rain. It would start every day and pour down for five or six hours and to top it all off, every time the tide came in, the water would be nearly knee deep. This along with the mosquitoes and Japs was terrible. A pair of shoes only lasted about two weeks. The stitching would rot out.

On the 21st of January, 1943 I was wounded and sent back to the 105 General Hospital in Brisbane where I spent six months before being sent to San Francisco, to the Letterman General Hospital. I stayed for ten or eleven months and was then sent to Modesto, California. From there I was discharged December 22, 1944.
I married Delma Wood on April 13, 1945 in Salt Lake City with Garr Bennett and his wife Voria as witnesses. We later went to the Manti Temple and were married for time and eternity. We have had a fine life together and have three wonderful children, two boys and a girl. I started working away in the fall of 1951 and stayed at this trade along with a little farming until 1978 when I retired from the job to farm full time. Up until that time my wife and Carl’s wife had worked together along with the kids to do the farm work during the week, and did a good job. I thing she is a better farmer than I am.

I have done many things in my life I’m not proud of. Hopefully I can be forgiven for them. I have enjoyed being a High Priest and hope I can do more of the things the Lord would have me do. This I say in Jesus Name, Amen.