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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly May '91
Myron Jefferson Benefield No.15696
Class of 1946 Died 11 September 1946 in Belmont, Kansas,
aged 23 years. Interment: Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Bowdon, Georgia
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Myron Jefferson Benefield (some-times called Mike or Benny)
was born on 7 October 1922 in Bowdon, Georgia. Bowdon is a small
farming community in the rolling hill country of western Georgia.
Life in Bowdon was peaceful and quiet, and an altogether good
place to grow up and raise a family. Growing up, Myron
had a large extended family with dozens of aunts, uncles and
cousins, but his immediate family was small. His parents,
Lula and William, had about given up on having a child when Myron
was born late in life. An only child, he was a good son and his
life was filled with the accomplishments of youth. He played
football in high school and had a gift for making things from
wood. In fact, some of his cousins in Bowdon still use
some of Myron's creations from "shop" class in high
school. His summers were spent at odd jobs to save for college;
his ambition was to attend the University of Georgia. Myron
had always had in the back of his mind a strong interest in airplanes;
but in the 1930's what was a young man from rural Georgia to
do with such an interest? Myron graduated from Bowdon High
School in 1939 and enrolled at the University of Georgia that
fall. One of his roommates recalls a story Myron told. Right
after Myron's graduation from high school, his father, who had
little idea of the cost of a college education, gave Myron a
sum of money and told him to go to college. Myron, not wanting
to upset his father by telling him how much more college actually
cost, worked his way through the university.
His first job was in the school cafeteria; he also worked
as a car salesman in Atlanta at least one summer. Majoring in
agronomy, Myron was also enrolled in ROTC. However, Myron decided
that the only way he would get to fly would be to get into West
Point. Obtaining an appointment from his congressman, Myron
joined the Class of 1946 with a BS in agronomy.
Plebe Spanish almost did Myron in; but after being "turned
out" plebe Christmas and passing, he had relatively little
trouble with academics. He gained a reputation of being able
to get things done with a smile. One of his roommates recalls
that the ladies found Myron extremely attractive. The roommate
remembers a football game plebe year when the Corps went to New
York City. Myron wound up at an expensive girl's finishing school
with a young lady who wanted him to leave West Point and go to
work at her daddy's bomber plant. All other aspects of cadet
life paled to the opportunity to take flying training when it
was offered. Myron jumped at this opportunity and loved flying.
He, with the rest of his Army Air Corps classmates, received
his wings, along with his second lieutenant bars, at graduation.
After graduation leave, Myron reported with his classmates
who had chosen bombers to Enid Army Air Field in Oklahoma. Their
training was in B-25 aircraft. It was a happy and carefree time
for these new second lieutenants; flying by day and pursuing
the attractive Enid girls by night. However, the whole experience
changed for them with the untimely and sad loss of two classmates,
Myron Benefleld and Gil Perry.
It was getting towards the end of their training and the class
was scheduled for a low-level training mission on Monday, 11
September 1946. On the weekend before this scheduled flight,
Myron and his very good friend Gil Perry drove from Enid to Fort
Sill, Oklahoma to visit their classmates attending the Artillery
Basic Course. After a weekend filled with reminiscences and excitement
about what future assignments held in store for these friends,
Myron and Gil returned to Enid on Sunday. The next day was a
beautiful fall day, clear blue skies and warm sun. The '46ers
were all excited to have the opportunity to fly a legalized buzzing
mission north to Kansas and back, about a two-hour mission. In
some of the aircraft there were two student pilots--Myron and
Gil were in the same plane; in others, a student pilot and an
instructor. The first leg of the mission was to fly 50 feet above
the terrain to practice low-level navigation into a target area.
About a half-hour after takeoff some of the student pilots saw
a ball of black smoke rising in the distance and several miles
to the side of the track they were flying. At the time, they
did not know what it was, but they later learned to their sorrow
that what they had seen was the crash of Myron and Gil's plane.
It appeared they hit a telephone pole and sheared off the right
wing. At that altitude, there was no chance for anyone to survive.
Myron had completed all his training requirements and was
on his way to a superb career. He was very popular with his classmates
and his instructors. His classmates left Enid shortly after the
accident, but they never left behind the bright and unfading
memory of an outstanding man.
It is now 43 years since Myron's death, and the trail has
become obscured and the memories dim; but thanks to a much younger
cousin in Bowdon, Myron's memory has been kept alive. Bobby Holloway
has Myron's Howitzer, the pictures of Myron with helmet and goggles
at primary flying school and even the "miniature" that
Myron had hoped one day to present. A more fitting epitaph for
one of West Point's own could not be found than that delivered
by his young cousin, as he and one of Myron's classmates stood
at the gravesite behind a small Baptist church in Bowdon.
Myron's cousin said, "When I was a young boy, Myron was
my hero; he was everything good and admirable that a young man
could be. He will always be alive in my memory." Rest in
peace, Myron.
'46 Memorial Article Project and his cousin
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