Alan William Benting (1922 - 1944)

Ancestors

Biography

Alan William was born in Acocks Green in 1922. He was the only son of William Benting and Elizabeth S Hernage.

Alan was a member of the RAF 617 Squadron. On Saturday 23rd September 1944 he was a crew member of a Lancaster which took off from it's base in Lincolnshire. The Lancaster's mission was to launch an attack aimed at Dortmund-Ems canal near the town of Munster and so destroy the supply lines between the German industrial areas on the Ruhr and the front near Arnhem (where some days before large allied airborne units were dropped).

Alan

Unfortunately, on it's return journey, the Lancaster was hit, probably by a German nightfighter, over Holland. Some of the crew, including Alan, managed to bail out before the Lancaster crashed, landing in the municipality of Markelo. With a few pistol shots he drew the attention of the Templeman family at their nearby farmhouse. Alan however had serious wounds to his head and calf of his leg and despite being taken by the Germans to a hospital in Enschede he died on 25th September, aged just 22.

Alan is buried in Enschede on the Oosterbegraafplaats (Eastern General Cemetary) along with about 50 other allied servicemen.^[1] The inscription on his grave reads Till we meet again, darling, mother and dad^[2].

617 Squadron Memorial

Sources

1. ↑ Many thanks to Martin J G Hols, Holten, Netherlands whose book contained much of this information and for letters from Martin with much supplementary information
2. ↑ https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2820304/alan-william-benting/

• "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:QKG7-L7B7 : 2 October 2014), Entry for Alan W Benting, 1922; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.