William received his early education at Elleray Park School in Wallasey before continuing his studies at Wrekin College. As a young man, he was an enthusiastic participant in the dramatic arts, taking leading roles in many amateur theatrical productions in Wallasey.

Wartime Service and Deployment to Greece

William’s squadron operated the twin-engine medium Wellington Bomber. By September 1940, he had completed thirty-four operational sorties over Germany. Despite the opportunity to take a ground posting, he chose to remain on active duty and was subsequently posted to Tatoi, Greece, where he undertook flying missions in support of Allied forces defending Greece against Italian aggression.

Ralph Waldo Barnes – War Correspondent

Barnes was a distinguished journalist who had interviewed Charles Lindbergh following the first solo transatlantic flight in May 1927. By 1939, he was head of the London bureau of the New York Herald Tribune and, in 1940, was reporting from the continent, covering pivotal events such as the German advance through Western Europe. He arrived in Athens in November 1940, shortly after Italian forces entered Greece, having travelled via a British warship.

On the evening of 17^th November, Barnes travelled over the winding roads through the Blue Mountains of Greece to the airfield at Tatoi, north of Athens. There, he was to accompany an RAF crew on a mission to bomb an Albanian port being used as a staging ground by Italian forces attacking Greece.

Final Mission and Tragic Loss

William’s final mission ended in tragedy when his aircraft crashed near Danilovgrad, Yugoslavia, resulting in the loss of all on board. Among the casualties was Ralph Waldo Barnes, a forty-one-year-old American war correspondent with the New York Herald Tribune, who was travelling as an observer.

Barnes climbed aboard Wellington bomber T2827 flown by William Bennett with four other crew members. They set a course for Durrës, a little over 300 miles away on the Adriatic coast. The weather along the coast was exceedingly bad that night, and William apparently never found the target. The bomber wandered beyond Durrës and over Yugoslavia, where the cloud cover became so thick that he tried to descend so as to determine his location. Sometime between 03:00 hrs and 04:00 hrs on 18^th November the fully laden Wellington flew into the side of the highest mountain peak called Velji Garač near Danilovgrad in what is now Montenegro. The ensuing explosion upon impact was so intense the local residents believed they were being bombed: the wreckage and its occupants were scattered over a very wide area.

Ralph Barnes was the first US war correspondent to die covering the war. By the time the conflict ended nearly five years later, dozens more would share the same fate, as would still more journalists from numerous other countries.

Michael was aged 22 when he was killed and is buried with his crew in Belgrade War Cemetery.

Elder son of Mr & Mrs Harry Bennett, Wallasey, Cheshire.

A downloadable copy of William's story is available here.

Revised: October 2025