Born and raised in Norfolk, UK—near RAF Wendling where the 392nd was based—Ben grew up exploring old airfield ruins and meeting visiting veterans, earning the affectionate nickname “the kid on the bike.”
His grandfather served in the RAF during the interwar years, his father flew jets in the Fleet Air Arm, and his sister is a Royal Navy officer—military service deeply runs in the family.
He attended his first reunion in Hilton Head, SC, in 1989. In 2002, veterans selected him—the first 2nd-generation member—to the 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association's Board of Directors, where he served until October 2023. He’s also one of the admins of the group’s Facebook page.
Ben has spent decades combing through the US National Archives, microfilm mission logs, photos, crash site records, and eye-witness accounts. He’s a co-author of crash-site investigations—like the 1944 Friedrichshafen mission—and has documented sites across Europe with colleagues like Jim Marsteller and Carsten Kohlmann.
Noted in a Miller County Museum thank-you, Ben helped jump-start archival research for others, including collecting letters, photos, and documents related to their ancestors’ service.
