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First Name: Keith

Last Name: Bennett

Birthplace: Havre de Grace, MD, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Home of Record: Holtwood, PA
Middle Name: A.



Date of Birth: 18 May 1973

Date of Death: 11 December 2005

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Years Served: 1997-2005
Keith A. Bennett

   
Engagements:
•  Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom) (2003 - 2011)

Biography:

Staff Sgt. Keith A. Bennett, 32, died in Ramadi, Iraq following a bomb explosion while he was standing guard at a checkpoint protecting a compound where US Marines train Iraqis to be police officers. Sgt. Bennett stopped a truck to inspect it when the insurgent behind the wheel detonated the explosives. Bennett was walking toward the stopped vehicle when it detonated, National Guard officials said. Bennett, of Holtwood-PA, joined the National Guard in 1997 because he thought the experience would enable him to fulfill his goal of becoming a PA state police trooper. He was a full-time member of the National Guard — a military policeman who patrolled Fort Indiantown Gap — when he volunteered to go to Iraq. Bennett, who was halfway through a yearlong deployment, was serving with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division. As a unit leader, Bennett had nine soldiers under him. One of his subordinates, Sgt. Ben Claus, said Bennett often volunteered himself or the unit for extra time so that someone else could take an extra day off. In addition, he often brought extra equipment, anticipating that some of his fellow soldiers might forget something. Claus described Bennett as a jokester who surprised his family in October (2004) when he arrived home for more than two weeks. Bennett would not tell his family about the dangers in Iraq, so that they wouldn't worry too much. He loved pizza, music, his red Kawasaki motorcycle and 2003 black Mustang Cobra.



Honoree ID: 5789   Created by: MHOH

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