Lance Corporal Edward Benson, 2/12th Battalion, AIF
Australian War MemorialEdward Benson was born on 6 September 1914 in Launceston, Tasmania, the eldest son of Adolf Tideman Bentson and Margaret Bentson. His father died when he was four years old, and his mother later married Ferdinand Hotstone. Edward had four siblings – Minnie, Gladys, Herbert and Rupert – and was known as “Ted” or “Laddie”.
Benson attended Invermay School. He was well known as a keen sportsman and played for the Invermay Soccer Club, the Tabernacle Cricket and Badminton Clubs and the Excelsior Badminton Club. After leaving school he worked as a steward at the Launceston Club.
Benson enlisted on 3 September 1940 under the name “Edward Benson”, and was allotted to the reinforcements to the 2/12th Battalion in the Second Australian Imperial Force.
He embarked from Melbourne aboard the Mauritania on 29 December, arriving in Palestine on 4 February 1941. He served at Tobruk and in May received a gunshot wound to his right foot and thigh. He was hospitalised but recovered in time to rejoin his unit in July.
After withdrawing from Tobruk in August, the battalion trained in Palestine and joined the forces garrisoning Syria in September.
In early January, Australian troops were ordered to withdraw from the Middle East in response to the outbreak of war with Japan in the Pacific. Benson embarked with his unit on 12 February 1942, arriving at Brisbane on 28 March.
In August 1942, the 2/12th embarked aboard the Anshun for New Guinea. During the voyage, Benson was appointed lance corporal.
On New Year’s Day 1943, the 2/12th Battalion replaced tired units at Buna in a large-scale, 2-day attack on Japanese forces.
The attack was successful but came with heavy losses, including Lance Corporal Edward Benson, who was killed in action. He was 28.
Benson was buried in Buna but was later reinterred. His remains now rest in the Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery. His headstone reads: “Greater love hath no man than this – to die for his friends.”
He left behind a family who deeply felt his loss, as evidenced in the multitude of notices they placed in the newspapers for years after his death. Poems were sent in by various family members and friends. One, from his mum and dad, read:
We’ll never forget, Ted, when we stood at the station,
And you kissed us and said goodbye;
Now our hearts are torn and broken,
Our eyes are wet with the tears we shed
When we sit alone and think of you, dear Ted,
He did his duty for God, King, and country.
Another was placed “In treasured memory of my friend, Ted, who gave his all in New Guinea” from “his cobber, Geoff”.
Lance Corporal Edward Benson’s name is listed on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll, along with some 40,000 others from the Second World War.
Christina Zissis, Editor, Military History Section
Image: The final assault on Buna. An Australian mortar crew from headquarters company, 2/12th battalion, lays down a barrage as infantry advances to attack a Japanese pillbox, Giropa Point, Papua, 2 January 1943
- Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM2020.1.1.279
