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A few miles northwest of Owensboro, Kentucky, lies the Ben Hawes State Park, a recreation area for the city, planned and completed while Benjamin Walker Hawes was mayor of the city. The park was dedicated while he was still living, over his objection that it was bad luck to have a monument prior to your demise. Bennie would laugh about it when viewing his monument. He knew he would be long and well-remembered. In the words of one Owensboro citizen, “The moral impact of Mayor Ben Hawes’ unimpeachable integrity will live as long as there is an Owensboro, Kentucky.”</p>
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Ben joined the plebe class of 1935 at West Point to participate with his classmates in Beast Barracks. He learned to negotiate the steps of the old 13th Division of Central Barracks two steps at a time with a mattress or some other impedimenta on his back or in his arms. This, and learning to march and drill, occupied that period. Charlie Hoy was our mentor. Charlie said, “Drilling is easy. Just put one foot in front of the other” by way of encouragement.</p>
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When academics began he could be found reading his Bible after completing his studies for the succeeding day and prior to taps. He also enjoyed short naps as time allowed and was a great letter writer. Excellent in science and mathematics, he had problems with French, and later Spanish.</p>
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He enjoyed an evening walk around the West Point Plain after dinner and listening to the band concerts near the superintendent’s quarters. One evening after a lecture by then Major Omar Bradley in the academy drawing lecture hall, Bennie asked him about hunting and was given a late slip for return to his room for study an hour later.</p>
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An excellent shot and avid hunter, he qualified as a rifle sharpshooter and a pistol expert. His horsemanship was furthered by an interest in polo.</p>
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Bennie’s first assignment after graduation was to the 31st Infantry, Philippine Department, Philippine Islands. While awaiting transportation at Fort Jay, New York, he took the Company Officers Course, Chemical Warfare School, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. Assigned to Company M of the 31st Infantry, he served as machine gun platoon leader and battalion adjutant from 1936-38. His West Point roommate for four years served in the same regiment. He participated in training and maneuvers for defense of the Philippines. It is of interest that the defense of the Lingayen Gulf sector and the withdrawal through Bataan to Corregidor was rehearsed many years prior to the actual Japanese attack in 1942.</p>
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An enthusiastic student, Bennie spent much of his time while quartered at the Army and Navy Club in Manila to a study of Plato’s dialogues. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom of T. E. Lawrence was another volume on which he spent many hours. Continually he worked to improve his knowledge.</p>
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He returned to the United States by way of Asia and Europe on commercial transportation, spending time in India visiting with the various elements of the British forces stationed there. Upon his return to the United States, he took the Regular Course at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. While there he married Constance Gatewood of Columbus, Georgia. In 1940 he was assigned to the 66th Infantry (Tanks) and to the 2nd Armored Division, 1940-41; 3rd Armored Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana; 758th Tank Battalion, 1941-42; Advanced Tactics Course, Armored School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1942-43; Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1943; 4th Armored Division, 1943; G-3 Plans, Allied Forces Headquarters, 1944, where he worked on a peace treaty between France and the Allied Forces. He served in southern France as a general staff advisor. In late 1944 he assumed command of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division where he was awarded two Bronze Stars with V clasp in the invasion of southern France. He also holds the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Purple Heart. He lost his right leg below the knee in a land mine explosion during combat and was evacuated to the Zone of the Interior for wounds, spending 1945 and 1947 in Army hospitals. In 1947 he retired as a colonel for physical disability.</p>
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He earned a master of science in mathematics from Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1950.</p>
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The years after 1944 were a period of adjustment to the loss of a limb. He lived in Columbus, Georgia, his wife’s hometown, before moving back to Owensboro, Kentucky where he continued to enjoy riding his horse, supervising his farm, and becoming involved in community affairs.</p>
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He worked as a civilian with the Reserve Officer Unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky and would visit his classmates stationed there. On a trip to England to check on farming procedures for Daviess County, Kentucky, he jokingly told his English friends he had returned to Europe to look for his lost limb. His deep religious faith carried him through all of life’s vicissitudes.</p>
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Notices in the Louisville <em>Courier Journal</em> and the Owensboro <em>Messenger-Inquirer</em> marked his passing.</p>
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He served as City Commissioner and Commissioner of Public Works in 1952 and 1953. He was mayor of Owensboro from 1958-1964. The mayor who preceded him said, “I believe he made us one of the best mayors we’ve had, at least in my lifetime.” He was the only Owensboro mayor to serve for six consecutive years in this century.</p>
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Bennie served on several committees and was active in civic affairs during his time at Owensboro. He was general chairman of Brescia College’s first annual planning conference. He was a member of the Retired Officers Association, Army and Navy Clubs of Washington, DC, and Manila, Philippine Islands.</p>
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He was also a member of the Elk’s Club, Rotary Club, American Legion Post #9, Sons of the American Revolution, 40 and 8 Club, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the First Presbyterian Church where he was twice a deacon.</p>
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Bennie and his wife had a son and daughter. Their two children, Benjamin Walker Hawes, Jr. and Laura Hawes, were a source of deep joy to them. The death of Laura, a hauntingly beautiful girl, was a source of profound sorrow. Benjamin Walker Hawes, Jr. was wounded in Vietnam. He is presently a practicing attorney at law in Owensboro. Katherine M. Hawes, granddaughter, brought Connie and Bennie much happiness in their senior years. Connie died in 1984 of cancer. Bennie later married Mary McCulloch. His two brothers, Holloway S. Hawes and Powhatan Hawes, both live in Daviess County.</p>
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Members of the Hawes family served in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Colonel Nathaniel Massie and Ensign Thomas Massie served in the Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War circa 1778; 2nd Lieutenant Jonathan D. Taylor, Company D, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, C.S.A. died in a military prison, Rock Island, Illinois, 1864; Robert Walker Taylor served in Company E, 10th Kentucky Cavalry, C.S.A.; a member of the Hawes family was a commander in the Confederate Cavalry at the Battle of Shiloh. Bennie lost a leg to a land mine in the WWII southern France invasion and Benjamin Walker Hawes, Jr. was wounded in Vietnam. The Hawes family followed the dictates of their conscience and fought for what they believed in. They sealed their basic beliefs with their blood.</p>
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Bennie was his company’s elected representative to the Honor Committee at West Point, the highest accolade his Company D classmates could present. The 1935 yearbook states, “Honor is the inherent moral force that is molded by West Point into a ruling attribute of character.” At the US Military Academy, in his military service, and in his service at Owensboro, Kentucky, as city councilman and mayor, his character left an imperishable mark on all with whom he came in contact.</p>
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Like the knight in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales he faced life and death with “ful devout courage.”</p>
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Benjamin is buried in the Hawes graveyard in Daviess County, Kentucky, with his forebears who crossed the mountains through the Cumberland Gap by ox cart to claim the land from a royal grant from the king of England, circa 1756.</p>
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The quiet beauty of the location breathes serenity. May our classmate, good soldier, distinguished civic servant, and friend rest there in peace.</p>