Bennett Fisher

Bennett Fisher’s father was Chief Quartermaster on the Mahan-class USS Preston DD-379 destroyer at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 11/13 and 14/1942. This destroyer was the fifth Navy ship of six named after 1861 U.S. Naval Academy graduate (first in his class) Lieutenant Samuel Preston (1840 Canada – 1/15/1865 Fort Fisher, North Carolina). Preston was killed in a ground assault on the Confederate Fort Fisher, which protected the South’s trade routes from Europe and the Caribbean to Wilmington, North Carolina, during the Civil War.

Preston was part of a six warship Task Force (four destroyers and two cruisers) in the 11/13-14/1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The Task Force intercepted a much larger Japanese Task Force delivering troops and supplies to Japanese strongholds on Guadalcanal Island. The Japanese Navy sank or heavily damaged all six American ships except for one cruiser. The Preston sank with more than half its crew lost, including 1924 U.S. Naval Academy graduate Captain (Commander) Max Stormes.

Bennett’s father survived, after 14.5 hours in the ocean sharing a life jacket with a crewmate. Most of his shipmates did not.

After World War II, his father married and moved to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to farm dryland he inherited from his mother. Bennett was the first of four children born.

Bennett’s father would not talk of his Navy and War experiences. After his father died, Bennett researched his father’s six-year military career. This led to his interest in military history, especially the Pacific Theater of World War II. Bennett took a continuing education course at Rice University on WWII, Pacific Theater. He has given talks on World War II history. He has assisted senior veterans in preparing presentations on their time in the military. He currently coordinates a Veterans group for seniors at a YMCA in Houston.

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