Stanley James BENNIE

BENNIE, Stanley James

Service Numbers: 1652A, 1652
Enlisted: 7 May 1915
Last Rank: Lieutenant
Last Unit: 21st Infantry Battalion
Born: Lauriston, Victoria, Australia, September 1891
Home Town: Scarsdale, Golden Plains, Victoria
Schooling: Lauriston State School, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Engine Driver
Died: Killed In Action, France, 5 October 1918
Cemetery: Tincourt New British Cemetery
Plot X, Row C, Grave No. 14
Memorials: Alphington Soldiers Memorial, Kyneton Honour Roll, Kyneton War Memorial
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

7 May 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1652A, 22nd Infantry Battalion
16 Jul 1915: Involvement Private, 1652, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Demosthenes embarkation_ship_number: A64 public_note: ''
16 Jul 1915: Embarked Private, 1652, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Demosthenes, Melbourne
27 Aug 1915: Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 21st Infantry Battalion
1 Oct 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 21st Infantry Battalion, Temp Corp 27/8/1916
7 Apr 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 21st Infantry Battalion
4 May 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 21st Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), GSW to left elbow
30 Nov 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 21st Infantry Battalion
5 Oct 1918: Involvement Lieutenant, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 21st Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1918-10-05

Help us honour Stanley James Bennie's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From How We Served

Lieutenant (1652) Stanley James Bennie MID of Alphington and Lauriston, Victoria, who prior to enlisting for War Service on the 7th of May 1915 had been employed as an engine driver.

Stanley was originally allocated to the 22nd Battalion 1st AIF, but was shortly afterwards moved over to the 21st Battalion. On the 16th of July Stanley was embarked for Egypt and further training and by the 29th of August he had arrived in the trenches of Gallipoli, after having been on board the Transport ship 'Southland' which was torpedoed on route to the Dardanelles. Stanley saw out the rest of the Gallipoli campaign and by the 27th of December he had returned to Egypt, from where his Battalion was shipped to France, and were disembarked on the 26th of March 1916. Stanley’s service in France was continuous and he was selected to be Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on the 7th of April 1917.

On the 5th of May Stanley received a gunshot wound to his left arm, and was sent back to England for hospitalization where he was admitted into the 3rd London General Hospital on the 28th of May. After returning to France, Stanley was again promoted, being made a full Lieutenant on the 30th of November. During operations at Ville-Sur-Ancre on the 19th of May 1918, Stanley was recommended for the Military Cross for his imitative and devotion to duty whilst under fire, but was only to receive a Mentioned in Dispatches.

From his returning back to his Battalion, Stanley’s service in the field would be continuous, aside a brief spell of Leave in England from the 23rd of August to the 11th of September, until he was killed in action during operations in the vicinity of Montbrehain, in Northern France on the 5th of October 1918. Stanley’s body was recovered for temporary burial until after the War where he was officially re interred within Tincourt New British Cemetery.

Back in Australia, the supreme sacrifice made by Lieutenant Stanley Bennie MID during ‘The Great War’ was privately commemorated at his family’s collective burial site within Melbourne General Cemetery, Victoria.

Read more...