By John Montesano –
The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named Ron Bennett the April Veteran of the Month.
He was born September 16, 1946 in Aurora and grew up in Moecherville, a neighborhood on the East Side which was built by returning veterans from World War II. His father was a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy aboard a troop transport ship in the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean theaters and participated in D-Day June 4, 1944 Normandy Invasion.
Bennett attended Allen Elementery School, followed by East Aurora High School from which he was graduated in 1965. He was drafted in December 1965 into the U.S. Army and was sent to Ft. Polk, La.. After he was graduated from basic training, he went to supply training for his AIT (Advanced Individual Training). After failing to pass his first week’s test, he had to start his training over. The second time he excelled and was even made an acting platoon sergeant. The one week delay in his training schedule resulted in keeping him out of Vietnam, because the rest of his unit had been shipped out to Vietnam a week before he received his orders to go to Ft. Lee, Va. for quartermaster school.
After completing quartermaster school, Ron was shipped to The Fulda Gap in Germany. During the Cold War, the Fulda Gap was one of two obvious routes for a hypothetical Soviet tank attack on West Germany from Eastern Europe, especially from East Germany. Thus, the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) patrolled the Fulda Gap. Their mission in peacetime was to watch the East-West border for signs of pre-attack Soviet army movements; and in wartime, to delay a Soviet attack until other units could be mobilized and deployed to defend the Fulda Gap. It was a scary situation because the numbers did not favor the U.S., which had 600 tanks to the Soviets 10,000 and we had 3,000 men to their 10,000. Ron was told that if the Russians came across the border, he had five seconds to live.
Ron was assigned to Headquarters Troop, 1st squadron of the 14th ACR. He ran the arms room and was the mail clerk. He eventually reached the rank of Specialist 5, in Armored Intelligence.
He was separated from the Army in December 1967 and returned to Aurora. In 1968, Ron went to barber college and 50 years later is still cutting hair. He cut hair in various locations in Aurora until 2013 when he purchased Art’s Barbershop, an institution that had been in operation for 54 years in Oswego. Ron renamed the shop Main Street Barbershop. The residents were pleased that another real barber was resuming the business.
Ron was married in 1969, was the father of two boys and was divorced in the 1980s. In 1990, he was married to Beverly (Bev) who had two daughters from her previous marriage. They moved to Montgomery, and later built a house in Yorkville, where they reside today.
Ron likes to hunt deer and ride his Harley. He has been riding Harleys for 50 years and is on his fifth motorcycle. Most of all, Ron enjoys travel with Bev. They have been married 28 years and have gone on 30 cruises. They did not wait for retirement, but took their trips when they could. Ron lives by the motto: “We are not promised tomorrow. Do it now.”