Joseph M. Bennett
Aug. 7, 1921 - July 6, 2009

   Services will be held for Joseph M. Bennett, 87, of Reedsport at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at Dunes Memorial Chapel, 2300 Frontage Road, Reedsport. Visitation will be at 1 p.m. at the chapel. A private burial will be at the Reedsport cemetery.
   Joseph was born Aug. 7, 1921, in Salem, to Joseph Sr. and Betty Jenkins Bennett. He died July 6, 2009, of causes related to dementia and cancer.
   He attended school in Keizer and Bethel and was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving from 1942 to 1945 in the 509th Parachute Battalion in Fort Benning, Ga. He went overseas, first in Africa; Anzio, Italy; Southern France; and the Battle of the Bulge. After many losses from his battalion, he was sent to the 508th 82nd Airborne. After the Battle of the Bulge, only 64 survived out of the 800 in his battalion. After the war, he joined the 41st Oregon National Guard where he was a first sergeant.
   He worked many years in the lumber industry, first for Cascade Plywood in Lebanon and after he moved to Reedsport in 1951, with Long Bell then International Paper Co. in Gardiner. He was the plant superintendent.
   Joseph married his wife, Jeanne, on Dec. 28, 1946, in McMinnville. They were parents of one daughter, Jerri M. Bennett-Stillmaker of North Bend and one special granddaughter, Tasbina "Buttercup" Stillmaker and another special son-in-law, Ron. His brother, Edward of Redmond survives him.
   He belonged to the Battle of the Bulge Association, 509th Parachute Association and the American Legion Post 0062 in Reedsport.
   He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother.

[The World, Coos Bay, OR, 10 Jul 2009, Fri, Page 6]

Grave marker for Joseph M. Bennett in Reedsport Masonic Cemetery, Reedsport (Douglas county), Oregon.

Joseph registered for the draft in Dallas, OR on 16 February 1942 and was inducted into the Army at Portland, OR on 5 September 1942.

On 3 February 1945, Put Bennett was transferred from the 509th PIR to Company H, 508th PIR.

He was awarded the Bronze Service Arrowhead device for the Southern France Campaign and Airborne Operations on 17 July 1945 and received a Good Conduct medal on 31 July 1945.

Joseph married Marjorie Jeanne Klupenger in McMinnville (Yamhill county), OR on 28 December 1946.

His wife, Jeanne, survived him by 10 years and now rests beside him.