General Bennett Retires From Australian Army

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1944, Page 6

General Bennett Retires From Australian Army

(Rcc. 1.30. p.m.) PERTH, This Day Lieutenant-General Henry Gordon Bennett. Officer Commanding the Third Australian Army Corps in Western Australia, will retire from the army this week. Lt.-General Bennett, who was 5G this month, commanded the Australian Eighth Division in Malaya, and had a distinguished career in the first World War. He will now resume practice as a chartered accountant in Sydney. It is understood that Lt.-General Bennett is resigning because his claim to an operational position has not been recognised. He said: “I still desire to serve in some operational theatre, preferably, of course, on the road back to Singapore and Malaya, but this gate has been closed to me.” Lt.-General Bennett's escape from Singapore in a small boat stirred the world. With members of his staff, he escaped on February 15, 1942, two hours after the armistice had been signed, when they were technically prisoners of war. In reply to criticism from a section of the public, that Lt.-General Bennett should not have escaped, the Australian Army Minister (Mr. Forde) announced in Parliament that his action in escaping had been endorsed by the War Cabinet and service chiefs of staff. The military staff, Mr. Forde said, had been unanimous that as Lt.-General Bennett remained for two hours after the surrender, he must be completely exonerated. In the last war Lt.-General Bennett became Brigadier at Ihe age of 29. He was appointed Chairman of the New South Wales Repatriation Board on his return, and remained in that position until the board was abolished in 1927.