USS Benner (DD-807)

Stanley Graves Benner, born on 5 July 1916 in Arlington, Mass., lived in Boston, Mass., until 1940. Enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve on 21 August 1940, he reported for active duty at Quantico, Va., on 8 November that same year. After training at the Marine Corps' recruit depot at Parris Island, S.C., he arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 21 January 1941. While there, he participated in maneuvers on the Puerto Rican Island of Culebra. Transferred to the Marine Corps Base at Parris Island, S.C., on 12 April, he served there, receiving a promotion to private first class on 26 May, until shifting duty station to what would later become Camp Lejeune at New River, N.C., on 28 September. Benner was promoted to corporal on 11 October 1941 and to sergeant on 1 April 1942.

Ordered to the field on 8 May 1942, Sgt. Benner joined Company "A," 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, and, after traveling by rail to San Diego, sailed for the South Pacific in late May. After arriving at Tutuila, the battalion reinforced other elements of the 7th Marines already on garrison duty in the Samoan Islands. It remained there, serving as a reserve amphibious force, during the initial landings on Guadalcanal in early August. While on Samoa, Sgt. Benner accepted appointment as second lieutenant on 4 August.

Heavy Japanese pressure against American forces on and around Guadalcanal, particularly the naval action that sank four Allied cruisers on the night of 8 and 9 August, prompted a call for more reinforcements. Following a Japanese infantry attack along the Tenaru River on 21 August, a sign that the enemy was trying to retake Henderson Field, the 7th Marines sailed from Samoa on 4 September for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. Upon arrival on the 12th, the regiment received orders to move to Guadalcanal as soon as possible. Departing the New Hebrides on the 14th, the transports spent four days at sea dodging enemy naval forces before anchoring off Kukum, Guadalcanal, on 18 September. Later that same day, the 7th Marines took up a position astride "Bloody Ridge," guarding the perimeter's southern flank from there down to the Lunga River.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Benner (DD-807)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.