Sidney Alexander Benson was born on March 28, 1922, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of Harry O. and Mary D. (Blake) Benson. He was a graduate of Marblehead High School. He was attending college at Duke University in North Carolina when he entered the United States Army in 1943. Qualifying for duty in the Army Air Force, he was trained as a pilot and was reported as being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on December 13, 1943, at Seymour, Indiana.
Sidney served in the 862nd Bomber Squadron, 493rd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and Co-Pilot on the B-24H #42-94812 ‘Little Warrior' during World War II.
The 493rd BG, on only its 17th mission, took off from Debach airfield on the morning of the 29th of June 1944. The Little Warrior was one of 47 aircraft tasked with bombing the Junkers Flugzeugwerke aviation plant at Fallersleben in Germany.
An after-mission report described that:
Aircraft #812 flying in #5 position in “A” Group received a direct flak hit near #3 Engine at 09:39 hrs in the target area just after bombs away. It was enveloped in flames from the nose to the rear of the bomb bays. It fell out of formation and disintegrated at about 10,000 feet.
The wreckage crashed at 09:42 hrs on the Steimker Berg, 300 metres south of the now named Parkhotel, in Kraft-Durch-Freude-Stadt (later named Wolfsburg). The aircraft was 99% destroyed and dispersed over about 900 meters in three main parts. German records document that the only survivor was 2Lt Benson, who was captured but injured and was taken to the Municipal hospital in Wolfsburg, where he died the same day. The Germans reported that he was buried at the Forest Cemetery for PoWs at Fallersleben.
Three German nationals were originally charged in that they did, at or in Wolfsburg, Germany, on or about the 29th June 1944, willfully, deliberately and wrongfully encourage, aid, abet and participate in the killing of a member of the United States Army, believed to be 2nd.Lt. Sidney A. Benson, ASN O-818558, who was then and there a surrendered and unarmed PoW of the then German Reich.
The particulars of one of the three accused were deleted at the request of the prosecution. The two charged were a Helmut Lippmann who was a former Hitler Youth leader with the rank of Stammführer (Maj) and a member of the Nazi party since 1941, and a Kurt Kuhnert who was a former SA-Oberscharführer (Sgt) (SA=Sturmabteilung; Paramilitary arm of the Nazi party) and a member of the Nazi party since 1933.
The court heard that following a bombing attack upon Wolfsburg, Germany on the 29th June 1944, an American airman believed to be 2nd.Lt. Benson parachuted from his disabled aircraft, landing near Wolfsburg. The airman was captured by two police officials and several German soldiers. After he had been searched he was taken into the custody of Lippmann who was to march him to the police station at Wolfsburg.
En route to Wolfsburg Lippmann was seen by an eye-witness to fire several shots from his small caliber pistol at the airman from close range. It was later established that three rounds had hit the airman in the region of his hip. Lippmann claimed that the airman was attempting to escape which was not supported by the eye-witness testimony. Although wounded the airman managed to walk about another 650 yards into Wolfsburg. Here Lippmann left the airman in the custody of six to eight air raid wardens, including Kuhnert, standing in front of the local hospital while he made a telephone call.
The air raid wardens then attacked and beat the airman using their steel helmets as weapons. They left the airman severely beaten lying in a nearby ditch. Eventually, he was taken to the nearby hospital where he died from his wounds, shortly thereafter.
The hospital’s chief surgeon testified that the cause of death was recorded as a result of a fractured skull. In his opinion, it was difficult to determine which one of the airman’s wounds caused his death as each wound could have contributed to his death. However, he believed that the airman was beyond human help because of the skull fracture and he was less inclined to believe that the bullet wounds contributed to his death.
The court found Lippmann and Kuhnert guilty of the charge and sentenced Lippmann to death by hanging and Kuhnert to life imprisonment.
A Review and Recommendations board approved the findings of the court for Lippmann but did not consider that it was established that the airman died from his gunshot wounds. It was recommended that the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment which was then reduced to 25 years. He was paroled in April 1954. The board considered that there was no evidence to support the findings of guilty and the sentencing for Kuhnert and recommended both be disapproved.
None of the other air wardens were complicit in administering the beating to 2nd.Lt. Benson appears to have been identified or brought before a court.
2Lt Benson is now buried in the Waterside Cemetery, Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA.
The Crew of the LITTLE WARRIOR B-24 42-94812:
Pilot: 2nd.Lt. John Henry Hansen O-693976 Age 23. Killed
Co-Pilot: 2nd.Lt. Sydney Alexander Benson O-818558 Age 21. Murdered
Navigator: 2nd.Lt. Jerome Levy O-703629 Age 23. Killed
Bombardier: 2nd.Lt. Malcolm McNeill Stich O-697746 Age 22. Killed
Radio/Op: S/Sgt. Billy Bennett Gomillion 38424702 Age 20. Killed
Eng/Top Turret: T/Sgt. Vernon John Polzin 38367667 Age 21. Killed
Nose Gunner: S/Sgt. Sylvanus Green Haskell Jr. 39297646 Age 27. Killed
Ball Turret: S/Sgt. Cyrus R. Aidala 32707915 Age 21. Killed
Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. John Edward Sanders 18191467 Age 27. Killed
Tail Gunner: S/Sgt. Walter Alexander Boykowski 13171280 Age 20. Killed
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, aircrewremembered.com