Name: Norman Joseph Benner Rank: Rifleman Service Number: 6920786 Service: Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), No. 2 Commando, British Army Date of Birth: 1923 or 1924 Place of Birth: Enfield, Halifax and Hants Co., NS Date of Enlistment: circa 1942 Place of Enlistment: England Date of Death: March 18, 1944 Age: 20 Cemetery: Bandon Hill Cemetery, Wallington, Greater London, England Grave: Section XD, Grave 130 Commemorated on Page 247 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on May 25 Norman Joseph Benner was the son of Fred Alvis (Fritz Alois) Benner (born 1883) and Maude Elizabeth (Kelly) Benner (1893-1953). His father was born in Heppdiel, Bavaria, Germany. His mother was born in Earlsfield, in London, England. Norman had one brother Ronald Fritz Benner (1912 – 1989). His parents moved to the United States in 1914 but later settled in England. Some time before returning to England, Norman was born in Nova Scotia. Norman and his family were living in Beddington and Wallington in Surrey, England in 1941. After enlistment, Norman was assigned to the No. 2 Commandos, a battalion-sized British Commando unit of the British Army. The No. 2 Commandos were well-known for their participation (100 men of unit) in the St Nazaire Raid (Operation Chariot); a seaborne attack on the heavily defended docks of St. Nazaire in occupied France on the night of March 28, 1942. Those who made it back from St Nazaire rejoined the few who had not gone on the raid, and the commando was reinforced by the first intake of volunteers from the new Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry in the Lochaber region of the Highlands in Scotland. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Stephens, the 1st Battalion's four 6-pounders were credited with destroying many tanks from the 21st Panzer Division at the Battle of Alam el Halfa on 31 August 1942. The 1st Battalion subsequently took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Tunisian Campaign until May 1943 when the war in North Africa ended with the surrender of almost 250,000 German and Italian soldiers. The battalion, with the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, took part in the Allied invasion of Italy, and the early stages of the Italian Campaign, in September 1943, returning to England in January 1944. Norman died of an accident while in war service in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. He was interred March 23, 1944, at the Bandon Hill Cemetery in Wallington, which was in Surrey County at the time (now part of London Borough of Sutton in Greater London), in England.