ARTHUR K. BENNETT, III, LTJG, USN
Arthur Bennett, III '71
Lucky Bag
From the 1971 Lucky Bag:
ARTHUR KING BENNETT III
Marquette, Michigan
Art came to the Academy after one year of Bullis Prep. Being a Navy junior, Art has been all over the world, however he claims Marquette, Michigan, as home. Art had a hard plebe year academically and physically. Youngster year he got it all together and has been riding the safe side of 2.0 ever since. I feel confident he will make an outstanding Naval Aviator.
ARTHUR KING BENNETT III
Marquette, Michigan
Art came to the Academy after one year of Bullis Prep. Being a Navy junior, Art has been all over the world, however he claims Marquette, Michigan, as home. Art had a hard plebe year academically and physically. Youngster year he got it all together and has been riding the safe side of 2.0 ever since. I feel confident he will make an outstanding Naval Aviator.
Loss
Arthur was lost on April 25, 1975 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, when the wing of his A-6E Intruder aircraft failed after pullout from a bombing run. He was a member of Attack Squadron (VA) 34.
Other Information
From the March 1976 issue of Shipmate:
Entering the Naval Academy from the State of Mississippi, he was graduated in the Class of 1971. Born in Pensacola, Florida, the son of Capt. Arthur King Bennett Jr. USN '46 and the late Mary Elizabeth Rupp Bennett, both of Marquette, Michigan, he was raised in a navy environment, living on both the east and west coasts and overseas in Bermuda, Okinawa, Japan and the Hawaiian islands. Upon graduation from the academy he was assigned duty in the USS Roark as first lieutenant but began flight training in March of 1972 and reported to his first operational squadron, VA-34, at NAS Oceana, Virginia, in November 1974. He soon established a reputation in the squadron for skilled professionalism in the air and on the ground. The accident occurred when he was flying a close air support mission from the USS Kennedy over a marine landing exercise. After losing its wing, the aircraft tumbled and, although the bombardier/navigator was able to eject, Lt.(jg) Bennett was unable to do so while jettisoning bombs and fuel tanks.
He is survived by his father, Capt. Bennett; sister, Lynn Bennett-Campbell of Kathmandu, Nepal; brother, Earl Bennett of Kingston, New York; grandfather, Mr. Nelson Rupp of Laguna Hills, California; grandmother, Mrs. A. K. Bennett Sr. of Marquette; and uncle, Father Rupp of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Photographs
From the March 1976 issue of Shipmate.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
