(5th November 1916)
2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.
(in the Battle of The Transloy Ridges - Somme)
On the Somme, several attacks had been made against a very strong German position; largely owing to weather conditions, they had failed. In a final attempt, the Battalion pushed forward under heavy shelling and machine gun fire. "D" Company led, commanded by Non-Commissioned Officers, and the three other Companies followed. Lieutenant Bennett, leading C" Company, fell wounded in a sunken trench. Here his wound was bandaged, and he found two wounded comrades, a 2nd-Lieutenant and a Sergeant. Looking through the smoke they saw that "D" Company was leaderless. Its N.C.O.'s had been killed, and the Company had stopped. The others had also halted, and all four Companies lay out in the open under a very heavy fire, where they would be slowly wiped out. It seemed as if the attack had again failed, this time through the lack of a leader. The Sergeant dashed out, followed by the Subaltern, but both were killed.
Cutting steps in the side of the trench with a spade, Lieutenant Bennett scrambled out, despite his wound. Rushing to the front of the Battalion, spade in hand, he waved them on. Like one man the Companies rose; and so furious was their attack that the trenches, which had held out so long, were captured. For his bravery and fine leadership, which resulted in saving the Battalion and capturing the enemy line, Lieutenant Bennett was awarded the V.C.
He received his V.C. from King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 5th February 1917. He had previously been awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the Battle of Loos and had received his M.C. from the King on the 10th May 1916. He also received a Mention in Despatches in 1915.
Painting by Gilbert Holiday shows Lieutenant Bennett grasping a spade as he dashes through the troops, signalling the men to advance. This picture is in the possession of the Regiment.
In October 1913 he enlisted as a private soldier with the Artists Rifles and went with the 1st Battalion Artists Rifles to France in October 1914. On the 1st January 1915 he was given a commission in the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.
after the First World War became a lawyer, being called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1923, then serving as Prosecuting Counsel from 1931 to 1935 and a Metropolitan Magistrate from 1935 to his retirement in 1961. He was also Governor of the Regency Polytechnic College.
In July 1922 he married Miss Violet Forster, who had been a song writer. They had two children, Jonathon who died young of pneumonia in 1946 at Eton and Elizabeth (known as Toodles) who was older and had serviced in the WRAFs during the Second World War, she died of cancer in 1978.
During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Air Training Corps of the RAF. He retired to Vicenza, in northern Italy, where he died on the 6th April 1970, age of 77.
His Victoria Cross and other medals are displayed at The Worcestershire Regiment Museum, Worcester, England.
Lieutenant Eugene Paul Bennett V.C. medal group