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Date of Birth
Cyril was one of 10 children, was born in Fremantle and educated at Fremantle Boys School. He was employed as a clerk in the family’s grocery business, Bennett and Burnside in Fremantle (est. 1902). -
Graduated
Cyril was awarded dux of the school, winning the headmaster’s special prize. He later joined the cadets and was training as a senior cadet at attestation. -
Departed to War
At 19 years of age Private Cyril Arthur Bennett sailed from Fremantle on December 14, 1914, aboard the transport Kyarra A55, one of the troopships comprising the Second Convoy. The transport Kyarra A55 was a hospital ship, primarily used to transport Australian medical units to Egypt. -
Lemnos Island
He was promoted to corporal. The unit had relocated to Lemnos Island to care for injured soldiers coming from the first weeks of the Gallipoli campaign. The horrendous outcome of heavy casualties at Gallipoli saw hospital ships engage in the critical evacuation of thousands of wounded from Gaba Tepe on the Peninsula to Malta and Alexandria. In a sad twist of fate his brother Roy Bennett had joined the 10th Light Horse Regiment in 1915 and, later that year, died of wounds from Gallipoli. -
Letter to mother
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Post Gallipoli
After Gallipoli, Cyril was attached to the assistant director of medical services staff and served with the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance in the Middle East. He advanced through the ranks, being promoted to Staff Sergeant in 1917. -
Discharged from War
Cyril had spent more than four years abroad with the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and was discharged in 1919. -
Period: to
Started a family
- Cyril returned to the family business at the end of WWI before moving to Melbourne for work.
- He married there and returned to WA in 1925
- In 1928 their first son Phillip followed in his was accepted into the Royal Military College Duntroon.
- He eventually reached the rank of general and Chief of the Defence Force and, after retiring, went on to become Governor of Tasmania.
- Peter (second son) followed in 1930, He had a post war career with the RAAF as a navigator.
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Period: to
WWII
- In 1940 he re-enlisted in the army, serving with the 8th Australian Casualty Clearing Station and 103 Convalescent Depot at Ingleburn.
- He became a lieutenant on enlistment, served as a quartermaster and was promoted to captain in 1941.
- He remained with the 2nd AIF until 1946, volunteering for service in the demobilisation period.
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Death
Cyril died aged 87 years and is memorialised in the Garden of Remembrance at Fremantle Cemetery.