Melvin Joe Benner

Melvin Joe Benner was born on September 20, 1916, in La Crosse, Washington, to Joseph (J.F.) Foote and Jennie Benner. Melvin was their only child. He was diagnosed with Polio at the age of five, but he recovered and did not suffer from any long-term effects. Melvin graduated from La Crosse High School, and after a few years working with his family, he decided to continue his education at Washington State College (WSC) in 1936. Attending WSC from 1936-1938 as an Agriculture major, he also worked as a delivery man for a "retail grocery market" and, during the summer, worked as a Soil Conservation Employee in St. John, Washington. In 1939, Benner moved to Victoria, Canada, to take another truck driving job there. Plans changed once World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939. 

The nation of Canada was, at the time, a “Commonwealth” in the British Empire. This meant that Canada had control of its internal politics and policy but deferred to Great Britain in international affairs and foreign policy. With Great Britain officially in the war against the Nazis, the Canadian Commonwealth was at war too. Suddenly, men with Melvin’s education, skillset, and courage were in desperate need. The ability to drive enormous trucks in bad conditions with speed and skill was a prized military asset. Melvin wasted no time after his acceptance into Canada and on June 6, 1940, he petitioned to enlist in the Canadian military.  The paperwork was officially filed on June 17, 1940, and he met the criteria to join the Canadian army, making Melvin one of the first Americans to join the war against Nazism. Melvin was assigned to the Royal Canadian Armed Services Corps (RCASC) attached to the 3rd division of the Petrol Company on June 18, 1940. In December of that year, he was then transferred to work with the Canadian Air Service in his logistical capacity. He got his first furlough from duty, with pay, on December 17 – December 30. In February of 1941 he was again shifted to another unit, working with the 3rd Division Composite Company before being shifted back to the 3rd Division Petrol Company in late May. By this time the Canadians were ready to move their military units to England, so Melvin was finally transferred to the HQ 3rd Division Canadian “For All Purposes.”

Melvin met Peggy Brown in Edinburgh, Scotland, and married on February 18, 1942. Their first child, Karen Estelle, was born on March 19, 1943. While Melvin was not serving in a front-line capacity, the jobs of the logistical units were far from safe. Aside from driving vehicles full of highly combustible materials from one bomb-target location to the next, there were other dangers. Because of German air attacks and worries about giving away troop concentrations on the British Isles while they prepared for the D-Day invasion, England was in a blackout after dark. This required military personnel to drive in near darkness much of the time as they hurriedly fueled and outfitted the forces bound for Nazi-occupied France. One such dark night came on April 20, 1944, when Melvin and another soldier were driving on Lorry Road “somewhere in England” when a large military vehicle, sometimes described as a bulldozer, backed into the road before them. They could not stop their vehicle in time, and Melvin was killed on impact. 

Almost immediately, the members of the Benner family back in Pullman and the members of the Benner family in Scotland began a struggle to make the family whole. As if this were not a pressing enough issue, Melvin gave the family one last gift before his passing. In Jennie Benner’s attestation letter to the Canadian military on May 25, 1944, she explained that “Peggy Benner (wife) and Karen Estelle Benner (child) at Edinburgh Scotland wish to come to Pullman, Washington before this unborn child comes in September so the parents of the deceased can take care of them. This was the wish of the deceased also. We the broken-hearted parents wish this So Very Much. She has made application to come as quickly as possible and we hope it won’t be long.” While the family beseeched the Canadian government to allow them to unite, they also had to make sure to make decisions about Melvin’s earthly remains. The Canadian Ministry of Information replied to Melvin’s burial by explaining, "It may be some measure of comfort to you to learn that most satisfactory arrangements have been made for the burial of deceased Canadian servicemen in England in the Canadian plot in Brookwood cemetery. This is a very beautiful place and is maintained at a high standard by the Imperial Graves Commission. The plot will be a place of honour where those who have fallen while under arms will lie side by side, under perpetual government care and attention.”

Benner's son, Melvin Joe, was born September 27, 1944, his mother's birthday. An article published in the Spokane Chronicle on March 11, 1946, revealed that Peggy, Karen, and baby Melvin Joe arrived in Pullman to make their home with Benner's parents. Benner was reinterred in Woodvale Cemetery and Crematorium in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He is memorialized at the WSU World War II memorial.