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Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Pfc. Emory L. Bennett, US Army
Volusia Park Named For Him
By Charlotte Guttenberg
On Thursday, July 25, the Volusia County Council and the Leisure Services Division (Volusia Countys equivalent of the Brevard County Commission and the parks and recreation department) will celebrate the grand opening of a new park. The park will honor Volusia and Brevard counties only Medal of Honor (MOH) recipient, Emory L. Bennett.
Pfc. Emory L. Bennett Veterans Memorial Park is located on Veterans Memorial Parkway, Orange City. The opening is set for noon with the public invited.
As every Brevard resident of driving-age knows, The Emory L. Bennett Causeway (SR 528 or the Bee-line) is the only Brevard County honor accorded our fallen hero. Few people know who Emory L. Bennett was or why there is a causeway named for him in fact, only a few people call it Bennett Causeway. Before too many more people forget his noble effort, some interested citizens would like to see another Brevard honor (a Cocoa honor) accorded him as well.
The Eagle would like to assist in petitioning the City of Cocoa Commission to include a plaque paying tribute to Bennett in the newly renovated Cocoa Riverfront Park. An interested group has independently expressed interest in purchasing the tribute plaque. Additional money will most likely need to be raised for a suitable mounting pedestal, if the city will agree to honor the man who loved this city, and wanted nothing more, than to return here to live out his life. (See page 3 for petition to sign and return to The Eagle).
Volusia and Brevard share this remarkable young man. Volusia County has never forgotten, nor let its residents forget, Bennett was born in New Smyrna (Beach). When Emory was in the first grade in 1936, his family moved to Indianola on Merritt Island. The Bennetts lost their New Smyrna business in the Great Depression of the thirties. Dad Bennett located work here with the state road department while SR3 was under construction. He later took over management of a family-owned seafood business.
The Bennett family lived above the seafood business located in the building at the corner of SR520 and Delannoy Ave. in Cocoa Village, for 14 years. (The building is presently part of the Travis Hardware complex.) Busy SR520 running along the length of the building, was then the city boardwalk, and the Indian River lapped at the back of the buildings. All the filled-in area, housing parking lots, buildings and Lee Winner Park, once was part of the river. The parking lot behind Travis Hardware was once filled with docks, fishing net racks and catfish vying for scraps from the seafood business a pursuit that amused customers and residents, who could stand on the dock and watch them.
Emory grew-up working in the business with his family on Delannoy. He played and worked on the Indian River. He probably passed along the area that is now Cocoa Riverfront Park, thousands of times. He surely never entertained the idea it would someday be a spot where people from all over the county would come to relax and get away from our fast-paced lives. It is such a pleasure to walk or drive by the park and see how many people use it. It is seldom silent the happy voices of children playing, probably are mere echoes of earlier children who played along the Indian River or ran along the streets of Cocoa, playing as Emory, his siblings and friends once did.
After graduating from Cocoa High School in 1948, he worked several jobs to earn money for college. Enrolling in a business college in north Florida, he continued to work to support his desire for higher education. But our world and Emorys world changed dramatically June 25, 1950 when hostilities began in Korea. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and left for basic training, July 25, 1950 the day the first rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral.
Pursuing schooling with the army engineers, he was transferred to the infantry as the conflict in Asia expanded and more soldiers were needed immediately. Leaving the states in February 1951, he died a heros death June 24, 1951 in a self-sacrificing battle that enabled his fellow soldiers to escape.
Pfc. Emory Lawrence Bennett had been a boy who loved to fish and hunt. He had been a boy with a great sense of humor, a zest for life. In a letter written in Korea to one of his brothers, he expressed the wish to simply be able to come home to Cocoa after the conflict was over to live and work in the place he loved. Pfc.
 Bennett did come home to Cocoa, but the fun-loving boy, who became a man and a hero in an inhospitable, far-away place, came home to be buried in Cocoa.
The only concept many people have of the Korean Conflict is from watching old episodes of M*A*S*H on television. War-torn Korea was not a place of fun and games. There may have been people like Hawkeye, Trapper John and Radar who were able to escape the bitter reality of war with humor and finally go home to their loved-ones. That was not the story of many soldiers who were wounded there and the many soldiers who died there.
Pfc. Emory Lawrence Bennett, the smiling boy in the photos, the smiling soldier in the photos, at the age of 21, put aside the hopes of his youth, the thoughts of returning home to his beloved family, to his beloved Cocoa, and gave his life in that inhospitable, far-away place, so that his comrades might live. Had he lived and been able to return here, he would have been 72. Perhaps he would have been one of the people enjoying the beautifully renovated park in Cocoa or the new park in Orange City. Perhaps the children laughing and playing in those parks would have been his grandchildren or great-grandchildren. But those ideas are could-have-beens would-have-beens. When the smiling man was called upon to do his duty, he did more than his duty, he did, he gave, his all.
After joining Co. B 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division on March 25, Emory first participated in combat March 31 and was quickly promoted to Pfc. one day later. A little more than a month after that, he was awarded the Combat Infantrymans Badge for service performed. One month and four days later, he was holding off an enemy attack to allow his comrades to escape.
It was the stuff movies are made up, the grand battle scene. But in this movie, the hero didnt come back for a sequel. He didnt appear on television talk shows or have his picture snapped by the paparazzo. There was no coming back from this battle, and he knew it. Because of this supreme act of heroism, he didnt win an Oscar, he won the Medal of Honor posthumously.
If you can attend the ceremony at Orange City, July 25, you will be welcomed. Please complete the petition to include a plaque honoring Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Emory L. Bennett in the Cocoa Riverfront Park and return it to The Eagle. The petition will appear in the next few issues. Please make copies and ask your friends to fill them out and return them as well.
Note: The conflict known as the Korean War (1950-53), was an action between the United Nations (UN) and North Korea and later communist China. The UN suffered nearly 1,500,000 casualties. A peace treaty has never been signed, only an armistice in 1953 at Panmunjom. Korea still remains divided.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sobangsan, Korea, 24 June 1951. Entered service at: Cocoa, Fla. Born: 20 December 1929, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. G.O. No.: 11, 1 February 1952. Citation: Pfc. Bennett a member of Company B, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. At approximately 0200 hours, 2 enemy battalions swarmed up the ridge line in a ferocious banzai charge in an attempt to dislodge Pfc. Bennett's company from its defensive positions. Meeting the challenge, the gallant defenders delivered destructive retaliation, but the enemy pressed the assault with fanatical determination and the integrity of the perimeter was imperiled. Fully aware of the odds against him, Pfc. Bennett unhesitatingly left his foxhole, moved through withering fire, stood within full view of the enemy, and, employing his automatic rifle, poured crippling fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants, inflicting numerous casualties. Although wounded, Pfc. Bennett gallantly maintained his l-man defense and the attack was momentarily halted. During this lull in battle, the company regrouped for counterattack, but the numerically superior foe soon infiltrated into the position. Upon orders to move back, Pfc. Bennett voluntarily remained to provide covering fire for the withdrawing elements, and, defying the enemy, continued to sweep the charging foe with devastating fire until mortally wounded. His willing self-sacrifice and intrepid actions saved the position from being overrun and enabled the company to effect an orderly withdrawal. Pfc. Bennett's unflinching courage and consummate devotion to duty reflect lasting glory on himself and the military service.
Courtesy of Find A Grave
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