George Lawrence Benning (1898 - 1946)

Although his Benning family emigrated to the US from Germany (northern) during the 1840s, his mother's side (Millard) traces back to the Mayflower. Also, some from that side were in North America earlier - around 1605. That grt grandfather was a captain with the Dutch East India Company and he and his family settled here.

US citizen. Born in Iowa, lived in Colorado as a child. Then lived in Alaska after WW1. Moved to Seattle, Portland, Bremerton WA as an adult.

Finished 8th grade. (I was horrified when I heard this. As a child of the 1950s, I thought everyone graduated high school and almost everyone in my family and extended family attended college. Turns out that I was the ignorant one. When George was a child, graduation from 8th grade was the normal end of education. Some went to college (and my own grandmother, who was 10 years younger and his wife, graduated high school) but that was the exception, not the rule. George demonstrated that he was smart and very good at business and my mom said "his handwriting was beautiful."

Baptist; non-practicing

During his youth, he worked for the railroad as a clerk. Later he became a car salesman, then a sales manager, and then owned a Chevrolet dealership.

George was married twice. He met his second wife, a 19 year old Eileen Constance (Tasker) Benning who worked as a stenographer for George who was at the time the general manager at the Seattle Chevrolet dealership of Captain C.H. Wells in 1927. George was a 32nd degree Mason and was going to become a 33rd degree Mason but he died before his induction. He was also President of the Chamber of Commerce in Bremerton WA. He was a very talented musician - I'm told that he could play any percussion instrument. I've heard from several people who knew him that his piano playing skills were incredible. But he couldn't read music - he simply could play any song he heard by ear. When Phil Harris' band was playing in the area, he was always asked to sit in with the band. And when the family visited New Orleans (circa 1940), Grandma and George went to Bourbon St at night and he sat in with bands in all of the nightspots. I sure wish that musical skills were inherited - although my son and I love music, we aren't musicians. Maybe his son will be? :)

Navy in WW1 George Benning 1114953 George enlisted in the Navy at Denver, Colorado on April 16, 1917...His profession was listed as 'clerk' and he had been living at 725 B Santa Fe Ave., Pueblo, Co at time of his enlistment. His father, William Benning, is listed as his next of kin, and he was residing at 331 W. Adams Ave., Pueblo, CO. George's pay per month once in the Navy started at $17...his paperwork states that he was 21 years, 11 months old; he was 5 ft. 6 1/2 inches tall, had medium brown hair, ruddy complexion and blue eyes. He had an inch long mark on his right breast..finger prints on paperwork. In June, 1917, George was in the hospital.... George was station at the Naval Station in San Francisco from 1917 to 1918... Feb. 4, 1918, George opted to take $5,000 in life insurance while at the US Naval Training Station in San Francisco, CA (navy listed his date of birth as 4/25/1895 and George verified that was accurate...have no idea why he lied as he was really almost 20 when he enlisted..) Life Insurance was noted to go to his father, William. November 26, 1917 George was rated a Storekeeper 3rd class, and rated "Very good" on all of his test scores... May 7, 1918...qualified as Store Keeper 2nd class...received "very good's"on all scores... June 30, 1918 George was in Mare Island, CA and finally assigned to the USS Saturn until discharged in 1919... From Dec. 30, 1918 to Jan. 12, 1919 station at Vladivostok, Russia...rated Chief Storekeeper in 1919...rated Chief Yeoman in May 1919... making $60 per month at this point... July 19, 1919 Honorable Discharge at Mare Island, CA ...by Special Order , Secretary of the Navy.....requested mileage to Portland, Oregon, which George notes as his "place of enlistment" (tho it wasn't...). However, gives his PO address after discharge as 150 17th Ave., San Francisco, CA (his sister Lois' address...) He was recommended for the Good Conduct Medal and for reenlistment, if he chose to do so.... USS Saturn (1898-1922, later AG-4) USS Saturn, a 4840-ton collier, was built in 1890 at Wilmington, Delaware, for commercial use. Purchased by the Navy in April 1898, she carried coal to U.S. ships in the West Indies area during the Spanish-American War. In 1916-21, Saturn was mainly employed as a radio support ship in Alaskan waters, but carried coal, cargo and radio gear to Siberia in late 1918. Reclassified AG-4 in 1920, she decommissioned in March 1922 and was sold in September of that year. Saturn departed Bremerton on 2 September 1916 for Sitka, Alaska, to operate as a tender and relay ship for radio communication between Alaska and bases on the United States west coast. She cruised extensively in waters of the North Pacific and was placed in full commission on 4 April 1917 upon United States entry into World War I. She called frequently at Seward, Sitka, Tatoosh, Ketchikan, and Dutch Harbor, insuring continuous communications between the continental United States and the Alaska Territory. During November 1918, Saturn was assigned special duty carrying coal and supplies to the United States Expeditionary Force at Vladivostok, Russia, during the Russian Civil War and large-scale Japanese intervention. She departed Vladivostok on 12 January 1919 and proceeded homeward via Olongapo, Philippine Islands; Guam; and Pearl Harbor, arriving on 25 February at Mare Island Navy Yard. Saturn resumed duty as a communications link between Alaska and the continental United States, with occasional additional duty as a radio repair ship. She was classified AG-4 as a miscellaneous auxiliary on 17 July 1920. Honorable Discharge: George Lawrence Benning, 1114953, Chief Yeoman is honorably discharged from the USS Saturn and from the Naval Service of the United States, this 19th day of July, 1919 at Mare Island, California.....if within four months from this date the said Geo. L. Benning shall present this, his Honorable Discharge, at any United States Naval Rendezvous, and is found physically qualified, and shall re enlist for four years, then he shall be entitled to pay during the said four months equal to that to which he would have been entitled had he been employed in actual service...rating last qualified to fill, Chief Yeoman... (back of form) Geo. L. Benning , rate: Lds Yeo, enlisted April 16th, 1917 at Denver, Colo for 4 years; total naval service 2 yrs, 3 months; trade: clerk; citizenship: US; ratings held during enlistment Lds Yeo; App Sea; S.K. 3cl; S.K. 2cl; Chief Storekeeper; Chief Yeoman; Proficiency Rating: 3.90; Sobriety 4.0; Obedience 4.0 ; Average standing for term of enlistment, 3.97; Where born: Boone, Iowa; Date: April 25, 1895 (wrong year); Age 24 yrs, I month; Height 5 ft 6 1/2 inches; Weight, 142 lbs; Eyes, blue; Hair, Med. Brown; Complexion, Ruddy... Personal characteristics, marks, etc. m-in r breast; burk in-l knee; p.s. back r-arm.... War Service Certificate United States Navy: This certifies that George Lawrence Benning (#11149531) Chief Yeoman, performed honorable active service in the United States Navy from April 16, 1917 to November 11, 1918 on board the following ships and stations: US Naval Training Station, San Francisco, CA; Rec. Ship, Mare Island, California; USS Saturn...