Bill

The Bennett next joined US forces which were converging from all over the Pacific for the crippling blow to Japanese forces on her doorstep, Iwo Jima. No sooner had the Bennett arrived at Iwo Jima as part of the transport screen, things started to pop around her. She narrowly missed being crashed into by a twin-engine Betty, which our guns brought down just short of the ship. A small crack found in the bow afterwards testified that the bomber had dropped his massive bomb, which pierced the ship's hull without exploding. ( I was stationed in the magazine room, that was just forward, from where the ship was pierced. God was with me again! ) That same day the Bennett silenced a shore battery whose shells were endangering the transport ship. Iwo Jima's bloody fighting was mostly ashore, and the Bennett came out of the campaign with minor damage.( While at Leyte Gulf I came close to having a visit with my father while he was in the Army Construction Battalion in the Philippines. When he found out that my ship was anchored in the bay, he made arrangements for us to meet the next day but unfortunately we pulled out the next day for Okinawa.)