Bennett (William “Bucko”) is born in Roxbury.

The son of immigrants from Barbados, William Bennett graduates from Mechanics Arts High School, enlists in the U.S. Army in 1942 and serves as a maintenance engineer with Tuskegee Airman during World War II. Returning to Boston, he marries Frances Ross and works as a marine engineer at the Boston Naval Shipyard in Charlestown, retiring in 1973. A member of Zion Lodge of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons, Bennett dies in West Roxbury on January 19, 2011.