Corp Corbett Benefield

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Corp Corbett Benefield Veteran

Birth
Alabama, USA
Death
8 Oct 1918 (aged 26)
France
Burial
Caddo, Bryan County, Oklahoma, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Caddo Herald, October 14, 1921
Keith and Benefield Funerals on Sunday

Next Sunday morning at 11 o'clock the funerals of Elmer Keith and Corbett Benefield will be held at the Baptist tabernacle, after which the Elmer Keith Post American Legion will take charge of the remains. Interment will be in Caddo Cemetery.
It is not announced yet who will conduct religious ceremonies at the tabernacle.
The bodies were shipped from Hoboken Sunday and arrived Wednesday. They were held in state at the Presbyterian chapel until Sunday, being watched by details from the A. L. Post.
Elmer Keith and Corbett Benefield both were corporals in Company E, 142nd regiment, 36th Division, which trained at Fort Worth. Keith lived in Caddo, was the son of Mr. and Mr. W. T. Keith, and was a member of the Methodist church when he left for the army. He was an excellent young man, liked by all who knew him. Benefield lived just south of town, was a young man much respected by his friends and neighbors. Both were killed about the same time in the fighting around St. Etainne at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 8th, 1918. It is co-incident that their bodies arrived back in America just three years after being killed.
These were the only Caddo boys to lose their lives in the World War. Others were wounded, and came home. Others were in the big fighting and came out unscathed. It was the fortune of battle that these should be called to pay the supreme sacrifice. To them, then, we owe every courtesy, every consideration. vast number of people will be present to pay respect, to silently acknowledge their debt to these young men. Our encomiums* will fall upon unhearing ears, but their families will know that their neighbors have not forgot what their boys did for the Nation.
No other church service will be held that morning. The Tabernacle will seat more people than any other place.

Caddo Herald, May 30, 1919

Caddo Boy Killed Gets D.S. Cross

The War Department has awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to a number of Oklahoma young men. Among them is Corporal Corbett Benefield. He came from Caddo, lived about three miles south of town and had two brothers in the army. Here is the statement:
"Corporal Corbett Benefield (deceased), Company E. 142nd infantry, for extraordinary heroism in action near St. Eitenne, France, October 8, 1918. Father, Tom Benefield, Caddo, Okla.
Wounded in the arm by machine gun bullet while leading his squad through enemy entanglements, Corporal Benefield rallied his men and led them in attack on machine gun, which was enfilading* the line and captured the gun and its entire crew. Continuing on despite his wound, he was killed shortly afterward while leading his squad under a heavy enemy bombardment."

* enfilade: gunfire directed from a flanking position along the length of an enemy battle line

Caddo Herald, October 14, 1921
Keith and Benefield Funerals on Sunday

Next Sunday morning at 11 o'clock the funerals of Elmer Keith and Corbett Benefield will be held at the Baptist tabernacle, after which the Elmer Keith Post American Legion will take charge of the remains. Interment will be in Caddo Cemetery.
It is not announced yet who will conduct religious ceremonies at the tabernacle.
The bodies were shipped from Hoboken Sunday and arrived Wednesday. They were held in state at the Presbyterian chapel until Sunday, being watched by details from the A. L. Post.
Elmer Keith and Corbett Benefield both were corporals in Company E, 142nd regiment, 36th Division, which trained at Fort Worth. Keith lived in Caddo, was the son of Mr. and Mr. W. T. Keith, and was a member of the Methodist church when he left for the army. He was an excellent young man, liked by all who knew him. Benefield lived just south of town, was a young man much respected by his friends and neighbors. Both were killed about the same time in the fighting around St. Etainne at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 8th, 1918. It is co-incident that their bodies arrived back in America just three years after being killed.
These were the only Caddo boys to lose their lives in the World War. Others were wounded, and came home. Others were in the big fighting and came out unscathed. It was the fortune of battle that these should be called to pay the supreme sacrifice. To them, then, we owe every courtesy, every consideration. vast number of people will be present to pay respect, to silently acknowledge their debt to these young men. Our encomiums* will fall upon unhearing ears, but their families will know that their neighbors have not forgot what their boys did for the Nation.
No other church service will be held that morning. The Tabernacle will seat more people than any other place.

Caddo Herald, May 30, 1919

Caddo Boy Killed Gets D.S. Cross

The War Department has awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to a number of Oklahoma young men. Among them is Corporal Corbett Benefield. He came from Caddo, lived about three miles south of town and had two brothers in the army. Here is the statement:
"Corporal Corbett Benefield (deceased), Company E. 142nd infantry, for extraordinary heroism in action near St. Eitenne, France, October 8, 1918. Father, Tom Benefield, Caddo, Okla.
Wounded in the arm by machine gun bullet while leading his squad through enemy entanglements, Corporal Benefield rallied his men and led them in attack on machine gun, which was enfilading* the line and captured the gun and its entire crew. Continuing on despite his wound, he was killed shortly afterward while leading his squad under a heavy enemy bombardment."

* enfilade: gunfire directed from a flanking position along the length of an enemy battle line


Inscription

Son of Mr. & Mrs. T. M. Benefield, Killed in Action near St. Etienne

Gravesite Details

Served, died, and buried with Elmer Keith