Soldier With Lake Placid Ties Killed In Iraq

LAKE PLACID - As a 10th-grader, U.S. Army Spc. Durrell Lavoy Bennett impressed his teacher with a paper he wrote about Martin Luther King, Annette Hendricks of Lake Placid remembered Thursday about her nephew.

Family members noted it was ironic that Bennett, 22, died in Iraq on March 29 around the time the nation observed the 40th anniversary of King's assassination.

Bennett's mother, Doris V. Hawthorne Bennett, was born and raised in Lake Placid. She now lives in Spanaway, Wash., but still has family in Highlands County.

Durrell Bennett attended Lake Placid Elementary School one year in the mid 1990s.

He was an infantryman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He was stationed at Fort Riley near Junction City, Kan.

Bennett and Pfc. Patrick J. Miller, 23, of New Port Richey, were killed by an improvised explosive device.

Ross Hendricks Jr. of Lake Placid, said his nephew had only eight more days left to serve out his tour in Iraq. He had re-enlisted and was to be reassigned to Fort Lewis, Wash., to be near his family.

"He didn't make it back home," Hendricks said. "That's when we got the call from my sister-in-law. She was real upset ... her son got killed in Iraq on the 29th of March."

Annette Hendricks remembered Durrell as a nice, sweet tempered and respectful person.
Ross Hendricks Jr. said, "we used to play with Durrell and his brother, Darnell, when they were small ... they were some nice kids growing up." As Durrell grew up he wanted to be like his father, Dempsey, and join the military.

Bennett entered the Army in August 2005.

Visitation is 4-5 p.m., today at Black & Son Chapel, 1211 Martin Luther King Drive, Nashville, Ga.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday at the Berrien High School Gym, Nashville, Ga.

Burial will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at the National Cemetery in Andersonville, Ga.

Bennett is survived by his father, Dempsey L. Bennett; mother, Doris V. Bennett; brother, Darnell T. Bennett, all of Spanaway, Wash.; sister, Shanetta McCoy, of Nashville, Ga.; grandparents, Amos and Christine Bennett, of Nashville, Ga. and Charlie-Mae Hawthorne, Lake Placid; god parents Sam and Joann Mack Puyallup, Wash. and a host of uncles, aunts, cousins and caring friends.

Black & Son Funeral Home, Nashville, Ga. is handling the funeral arrangements.