📜 Post with us on Reddit
📝 Create a new article
🏭 Create a company page
🇬🇧 - in English
🇫🇷 - en Français (FR)
🇵🇹 - em Português (PT)
🇩🇪 - in Deutsch (DE)
🇯🇵 - 日本語で (JA)
Sponsored articles

You can edit almost every page by Creating an account. Otherwise, see the FAQ.

John Benda (naval officer)

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


This article is about commanding officer of the USS Constitution. For golfer, see John Benda.
Commander John Benda speaks with a gold star family member aboard the USS Constitution
Part of a series on
Dedham, Massachusetts
History
People
Places
Organizations
Businesses
Education

Commander John A. Benda is the captain and commanding officer of the USS Constitution.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] He is the second commanding officer of the Constitution from Dedham, Massachusetts, following the first, Samuel Nicholson.[2][7][8]

Early life and education[edit]

Benda was born in Roslindale, Boston and moved to Dedham, Massachusetts when he was five years old[3][1] with his parents, John and Brenda.[7][8] He attended the Riverdale School, Dedham Middle School, and was graduated from Dedham High School in 1997 where he played baseball and track and was captain of the football and wrestling teams.[3][4][2][7][9][1] He was voted by his classmates as Most Athletic and Best All Around.[7] Benda has a younger brother, Kenny, and a younger sister, Katie.[3]

After high school, Benda attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship where he studied mechanical engineering, joined a fraternity, and played football.[3][1] At WPI, he was named the Freedom Football Conference rookie of the week.[10] He was graduated in 2001.[11] Upon graduation, he was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.[3] His father and both grandfathers had previously served in the military.[3][4] He then earned a master's of science in leadership at the University of San Diego.[3] He earned a second master's at the Naval War College in 2012.[3]

Military career[edit]

After being commissioned, Benda was sent to the Naval War College for six months of surface warfare school.[3] He then served upon the USS Ashland as the communications officer.[3][11] In early 2003, he was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.[3][1] As officer of the deck, he oversaw Marines shuttling back and forth to the beaches of Kuwait.[3]

Benda was then assigned to Amphibious Squadron 7 in San Diego as Assistant Ops Planner.[3] While on his way back to the Persian Gulf, his unit was instead redirected to provide humanitarian relief following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.[3][1] Benda planned the relief mission.[3] For his service in this mission, Benda was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal.[4] He was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.[7]

While on shore duty, Benda was instead reassigned to the USNS GySgt. Fred W. Stockham where he supported special operations units in the Philippines for five months.[3] After earning a master's degree at the University of San Deigo, Benda was assigned to the USS Gary.[3] As the operations officer on the Gary, he did counter-drug operations on the Pacific coasts of South America and Mexico for two years.[3]

Benda then served as the N-3 for the USS Boxer where he spent eight months at sea.[3] During this time, his ship conducted ten multi-lateral exercises with Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain.[3] They also conducted a variety of operations, including raids, assaults, humanitarian disaster relief, and search-and-seizure missions.[3]

After earning his second master's degree, Benda became an instructor at the surface warfare officer school where he taught expeditionary warfare.[3][1] Benda then returned to San Diego where he had his first engineering tour.[3] As that assignment ended, a position opened on the USS Constitution and Benda was given orders to serve as its executive officer and second in command.[3] In 2019, it was announced that he would be the next commanding officer of the Constitution.[2][7]

Personal life[edit]

Benda met his wife, Susan, who is originally from Westwood, Massachusetts while attending graduate school at the Naval War College.[3][7] The couple married in 2012 and now lives in Holliston, Massachusetts.[3] He has a step-daughter and a daughter.[3]

As a lover of history,[12][13][6] Benda spoke at the Dedham Historical Society about Dedham's connection to the Constitution, including its first captain, Samuel Nicholson, and the Avery Oak.[14] He has also welcomed aboard the schoolchildren of Dedham,[2] members of the Dedham Retired Men's Club,[15] and the Fairbanks House[13] for tours of the Constitution. He also gives lectures about the history of the Constitution[3][14][6] and speaks at schools.[16] In 2019, he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni award from Dedham High School.[2][8][9] That same year, he was the Grand Marshall of the Holliston Memorial Day Parade.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Phillips, Lucas (February 29, 2020). "Local man takes command of USS Constitution". The Boston Globe.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Amy O'Brien, Brian Keaney, John Benda (June 14, 2019). The 52nd Annual Dedham Flag Day Parade with your Hosts Amy O'Brien and Brian Keaney (Video). Oakdale Square, Dedham, Massachusetts: Dedham TV. Event occurs at 23:50. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 3.28 "A sense of duty guides USS Constitution Executive Officer John Benda". The Dedham Times. August 17, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Plexico, Alvin (July 2, 2018). "Dedham native serves aboard USS Constitution". Wicked Local. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  5. ↑ MacQuarrie, Brian (February 21, 2019). "He's back in the tank again - this time happily so". The Boston Globe. p. B1.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Scoular, Casey (February 28, 2019). "USS Constitution Commemorates 204th Anniversary of VIctory over HMS Cyane, HMS Levant" (PDF). The Newport Navalog. p. 17. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Senior Class Night May 28 2019 (Video). Dedham High School, Dedham, Massachusetts: Dedham TV. Event occurs at 57. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Heald, Scott (May 31, 2019). "Dedham High School Senior Class Evening". The Dedham Times. p. 9.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Krug, Benda honored as Dedham High School Alumni Association's Outstanding Alumni". The Dedham Times. June 7, 2019. p. 16.
  10. ↑ Hassard, Geoff (November 11, 1997). "Weekly sports update: Results from October 31 to Nov. 6". Newspek. p. 3.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Class Notes". WPI Transformations (Summer 2003). p. 41.
  12. ↑ Herzog, Carl (July 3, 2019). "Meet today's crew". USS Constitution Museum. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Aboard "Old Ironsides" for Boston Harbor Sail". Fairbanks House. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 McBrien, Johanna. "John Benda: Old Ironsides, Then and Now". Patch.com. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Last Road Trip". Dedham Retired Men's Club. October 1, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  16. ↑ Billings, Johanna S. (November 23, 2019). "Living history lesson at Peninsula". The Ellsworth American. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Holliston Memorial Day May 27" (PDF). Holliston. 7 (4). May 2019. p. 3. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "whdh" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.


This article "John Benda (naval officer)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:John Benda (naval officer). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.


Retrieved from "https://en.everybodywiki.com/index.php?title=John_Benda_(naval_officer)&oldid=641904"
License CC BY-SA 3.0
Powered by MediaWiki
Powered by Semantic MediaWiki