A Sailor's Story: Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Clyde Benfold



Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Clyde Benford was born on January 15, 1931, in Staten Island, New York.

His family moved to the New Jersey area while he was young, and in 1949 Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Benfold graduated from Audubon High School.

He enlisted shortly after graduation, attending recruit training and corpsman training in Great Lakes, Illinois, before receiving Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Benfold's first assignment at the Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island.

In July 1951, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Benfold returned to training at Camp Lejune, North Carolina, for combat field training.  He was briefly assigned to the 3rd Marine Division before receiving his orders to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, and deploying to Korea in July 1952 for the Korean War.

On September 5, 1952, after a night spent treating men under fire, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Benfold earned a Congressional Medal of Honor while treating two wounded Marines in a crater.  When enemy soldiers lobbed two grenades into the hole, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Benfold grabbed the grenades, leaped out of the crater, and pushed them into the chests of the attacking enemy soldiers.

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Edward Clyde Benfold rests in the Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey.

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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photographer currently living in Salem, Virginia. 

In addition to the travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online photography gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

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Location: Audubon, NJ 08106, USA

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