The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a resolution renaming a Perryville post office in honor of the first American prisoner of war executed during the Vietnam War.
The House passed the measure Monday to name the facility the Harold George Bennett Post Office. The resolution was sponsored by Arkansas U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin and co-sponsored by the three other members of Arkansas' House delegation.
Bennett was born in Thornburg in 1940 and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957 after graduating from Perryville High School. In 1964, Bennett volunteered to serve in South Vietnam as a special forces adviser.
He was captured by the Viet Cong on Dec. 29, 1964 and was held captive 179 days before his execution on June 25, 1965, at the age of 24.
