THE WALL OF FACES

"An God said who shall we send.I answered I am here,send me."

Isaiah 6:8

"COVEY" FAC Steven Bennett "Medal of Honor" ALL GAVE SOME - SOME GAVE ALL

The OV-10 Bronco Association ( http://www.OV-10Bronco.Net ), a non-profit education museum headquartered in Ft. Worth TX with a worldwide presence, is currently closing in on obtaining a flyable OV-10A Bronco to serve as a living, all-services memorial to the OV-10 crews that never returned. The plane will proudly carry the colors of Capt. Bennett's OV-10 and be used to educate the public about the people, history and events surrounding the OV-10. Capt. Steven Bennett was the only OV-10 crewmember to receive the Medal of Honor, and as of mid-2001 was still the most recent Air Force MOH recipient. Angela Bennett (Steven's daughter) and Mike "Wolfman 45" Brown (the Marine backseater that Capt. Bennett saved by refusing to eject) are both active members of the OV-10 Bronco Association and have fully supported this important project. This memorial goes beyond memorializing one man, as it preserves the memories of hundreds of lost FACs and soldiers who happened to be touched in some way by the OV-10 and the events it has been involved in.

We would greatly enjoy hearing from anyone who knew Capt. Bennett or simply wishes to support our efforts to spread the word about the things that he and the other lost crews stood for. Drop us a line via our website or if you get a chance, we'd be honored to have you visit our museum in Ft. Worth!

Respectfully,
Mike "Merlin" Whaley
OBA Founder and Webmaster
http://www.OV-10Bronco.Net

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE


CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR


to


CAPTAIN


STEVEN LOGAN BENNETT


who served as a


FORWARD AIR CONTROLLER


with the


20th TACTICAL AIR SUPPORT SQUADRON

DA NANG AIR BASE

PACIFIC AIR FORCES



It was June 29, 1972 and near Quang Tri a USAF OV10 ' BRONCO ' was in the
thick of the action. CAPTAIN BENNETT, an FAC from Da Nang, was directing
American close air support fighters. He had been in Vietnam less than three
months. His backseater, USMC CAPTAIN MIKE BROWN, was calling the targets
for firepower from naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin.

At dusk, Bennett got an emergency call. A mile away several hundred North
Vietnamese were massing to strike a South Vietnamese platoon.

Could the BRONCO help because, if not, they would surely be overrun.

No other fighter aircraft were close by to get there fast enough, and with
the platoon between the enemy and the sea, it was too risky to try the
flat shooting naval guns.

That left only Steve Bennett and Mike Brown. He put the OV10 into a power
dive and attacked with his four 7.62mm machine guns. He was going down
into the SAM-7s prime shooting gallery, and he knew it. After making four
strafing passes, the North Vietnamese began to fall back. He attacked for
a fifth time to keep them from regrouping, and on that pass his luck ran out.
The OV10 reeled as a SAM-7 came up from behind, hitting the left engine,
and exploded shrapnel tore holes in the canopy. The left landing gear was
also damaged and the aircraft was now on fire.

He veered south toward an emergency landing field. The last thing he wanted
to do was have to ditch in the Gulf of Tonkin. He knew that the cockpit area
was likely to break up on impact and that no pilot had ever survived an
OV10 ditching.

Fire continued to spread. The pilot of an escort aircraft warned them they
had better punch out - now - and as they prepared to do so, Brown looked
over his shoulder. His parachute had been shredded by fragments from the
explosion. Bennett had a good parachute but wouldn't go out on his own.
The aircraft was in a "command ejection" mode. After a fatal ground accident
with ejection seats, it had been decided that when MARINE spotters, who had
not had the same training as the FACs, were in the backseat, the OV10 would
be configured for the pilot automatically to eject the backseater first, then
himself. But now Brown had no parachute.

Even if the aircraft had been in a different mode, Bennett's ejecting alone
would likely have been fatal for Brown. It would have left him in an aircraft
without a pilot, and he would have been severely burned by the rocket
motors on the pilot's ejection seat as it passed in front of him.

Momentarily, there was hope as the fire subsided and Da Nang was now
only 25 miles away. North of Hue the fire flared up again, began spreading
and there was now no choice but to crash-land in water - and soon.

The OV10 dug in hard, cartwheeled and flipped over on its top, nose down
in the water. Submerged, Mike Brown struggled free of his straps, went out
to the side of the canopy, and swam to the surface. He then tried to reach
Steve Bennett but the aircraft was now sinking fast.

Bennett, trapped in the smashed cockpit, sank with it and his body was
recovered the next day.

On 8 August 1974

Mrs. Linda Bennett accepted the

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

posthumously awarded to her husband

CAPTAIN STEVEN LOGAN BENNETT

for his actions on that day, June 29, 1972

at

Blair House

from the

Vice President of the United States of America

Gerald R. Ford



************************************************************



In an unprecedented tribute, on November 20, 1997,

a US NAVY Chartered Commercial Sealift vessel was renamed the

CAPTAIN STEVEN LOGAN BENNETT


************************************************************




THE PROUD YOUNG VALOR THAT ROSE ABOVE THE MORTAL

AND THEN, AT LAST, WAS MORTAL AFTER ALL




YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE




************************************************************


STEVEN LOGAN BENNETT


rests in honored glory in

LAFAYETTE MEMORIAL PARK

LAFAYETTE COUNTY

LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA

YOU HONORED ALL OF US. THINK OF YOU OFTEN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE AND YOUR FAMILY'S SACRIFICE.