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Lt Col Donald T. Bennink graduated from Chautauqua High School in 1932 and attended the University of Alabama.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Erie, Pennsylvania on 9 November 1942.

Statement from 1st Lt John E. Miller:
"On 27 August 1944, mission number W51-5, Colonel Bennink was leading the group on an armed reconnaissance mission and I was flying his wing. In the vicinity of Compiegne and Soissons some German trucks were spotted and the Colonel and I went down to investigate. After identifying the trucks as German we proceeded to strafe them. We made several passes across the road and two or three up the road. On the pass down the road going east I was unable to follow Colonel Bennink because he was close to the road and went into a steep diving turn down on one of the trucks. I pulled out to one side and covered him while he went down. I observed streamers coming off his wing tips and then I saw his belly tank come off. He pulled up into a gentle climbing turn to the right. I noticed black smoke coming out of the belly of the plane. It was then that he called and said, I hit the threes and have to go in. He seemed to hold the same gentle bank and did not gain much altitude. I was quite near to him at this time and he was going pretty fast. His engine seemed to be turning OK. I did not see any damage to the plane. He made a good approach to a clear field. When he bellied in his engine tore off to the right and the plane nosed over on the left wing and skidded across the field on its back. The tail assembly tore off. The plane jumped a road at the end of the field and stayed on its back. It started burning as it hit the ground. I circled the spot for twenty minutes and saw no sign of life. Just as I was leaving I saw some civilians running toward the wreck. When I left the plane was still burning. To the best of my knowledge Colonel Bennink destroyed three trucks and damaged several others before the accident."

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Champigneul, France.

Lt Col Donald T. Bennink is remembered at the Sunset Hill Cemetery in Lakewood, Chautauqua County, New York.

His brother-in-law, 2nd Lt Jack W. Horton, was killed in Werkendam-Nieuwendijk, the Netherlands in 1943 and is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten.