Barnyard Fun! Earl D. Bennett Presentation

Memorial Day Program at the Oldham County History Center

“Earl Bennett: WWII Soldier, A Tribute to His Service”

Presented by Coleson Taylor

Saturday, May 25, 2024  at 11 a.m., Rob Morris Chapel  – 207 W. Jefferson St. 

Oldham County History Center Campus 

Reception to Follow 

A scrapbook was donated to the Oldham County History Center in 2010 that was retrieved from a dumpster which contained all the correspondence of war letters that Earl Dawson Bennett wrote to his family while serving as a soldier in WWII.   Earl graduated from Liberty High School in Oldham County in the Spring of 1941.  Earl’s parents were Helen and Earl Bennett.  He had a sister, Mary Elizabeth, brother, Clarence and half-brother Lindsey. By the Fall of 1942 at age 19 Earl joined the Army Air Corps and began his life as a soldier.

The next two years Earl honed his skills as an engineer gunner and was assigned to the 640^th Bomb Squad, 409^th Bomb Group.  His pilot was Leon Cohen, Staff Sgt. Logan Young was the Turrett Gunner and Earl was the tail gunner on a B-47.  He and his fellow air crew were shot down over France, four days after D-Day, June 6, 1944.  A few days later Earl was gunned down by Germans as he tried to retrieve food from their airplane.

Oldham County History Center educator, Coleson Taylor has transcribed and digitized the Bennett WWII Scrapbook and placed it on the Oldham County History Center website where Bennett’s story can be shared.  Coleson will give a presentation on the life of Earl Bennett as a Memorial Day Program at the Oldham County History Center on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at 11 a.m. in the Rob Morris Chapel, 207 W. Jefferson St., La Grange.  The program is free and open to the public with a reception to follow.  All veterans receive the Dr. Bruce Heilman Road Warrior Doo Rag.

For more information:

Oldham County History Center, 106 N. Second Ave., LaGrange, KY 40031  502.222.0826.  ww.oldhamkyhistory.com,  info@oldhamkyhistory.com  facebook: Oldham County History Center

Join us in honoring a hometown hero: an Earl D. Bennett Presentation

Free and open to public