Howard P Benson
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Howard Benson served in the Naval Air Force during WWII. Mr. Benson was born on October 19th, 1925 in Marcell, Minnesota, to Paul and Bonnie Benson. He graduated from Deer River High School in 1943 and enlisted in the Navy on January 22nd, 1944.
Mr. Benson was stationed at Farragut Training Center, Idaho, for basic training. He was then sent to a Naval air technical training center in Memphis, Tennessee to attend radio school. After his training there was complete, he was assigned to the Squadron VPB 146 and sent to Saipan. Mr. Benson was discharged from the Navy on June 6th, 1946 with the rank of Aviation Radioman 1st Class. He received the WWII Victory Medal and Pacific Theater Medal for his service.
Source: Veterans’ Memorial Hall veteran history form, veteran’s account follows:
“I registered for the draft on October 19th, 1943 (My 18th birthday) at the post office in Calumet, Minnesota. Two weeks later, I received a letter instructing me to see a specified doctor. Then, in the first week of January I received a personal letter from President Roosevelt, telling me ‘I need you awful bad!’ The letter directed me to be at the bus station in Grand Rapids, Minnesota at 8 AM on the 22nd of January, 1944”.
“I spent a week in Minneapolis, getting a complete medical exam, as well as lots of vaccinations and interviews. At that time, they needed 40% of all draftees to go into the Navy. The interviewer asked me if I was afraid of water. I replied ‘no’. Then, he asked me if I could swim. I replied that I could swim across the Mille Lacs Lake. The interviewer stated ‘Ok, you are now in the Navy’.
“I was sent to Farragut, Idaho for boot camp. From there, I was sent to Millington, Tennessee, to attend a technical training center for aviation radio training. I had to learn the international Morse Code at a rate of twenty words per minute”.
“From there, I was sent to an aviation gunnery school in Purcell, Oklahoma. Then I went to Lake City, Florida, where I began flying. I flew almost every day. I trained on sending and receiving messages via radio while flying. From there, I went to Beaufort, South Carolina, where I received gunnery training aboard an airplane. I would strafe targets that were being towed by another aircraft”.
“Then, I was sent to Alameda, California, where I trained in bombing targets that were being towed by a boat. I also trained in submarine warfare. From there, I hitched a ride on an aircraft carrier to Hawaii. I stayed there for a month. Our planes were too big to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. From Hawaii, we flew to Johnson Island. The next day, we flew to Majuro Island, then to Kwajalein Island. From Kwajalein, we flew to Eniwetok and then to Saipan”.
“We left Saipan at about 5 PM every evening and patrolled a given area. When we returned at about 1 AM, Navy intelligence reports would be waiting for us. They documented every ship that radar had picked up in the time frame that we were way from base. They knew where every friendly ship was. When they came across an un-identified ship, they would send fighter planes out the next day to check it out.”
“There were about 100 Japanese soldiers who were prisoners of war (POWs) still on Saipan. I felt quite lucky to be on a Navy patrol bomber. Our job was to find the enemy ships and then let the fighter planes attack them. I did not see any action. I never got to shoot at the enemy, nor did I ever get shot at. I accumulated about 400 hours of military flying time. I am sure that my little bit helped the overall war effort. Because of my young age, I got into the service late in the war. My tour of duty lasted for two years, four months, and twenty-two days. I finally got enough points to get out and was discharged on June 9th, 1946”.
