laid on top of her because I was enjoying the intercourse. I wish to state that I did not force her at all. Although Bennett had repeatedly raped the girl before strangling her and dumping her body in a stream, the child survived. An American officer and his wife testified that she came to their home pleading for help. She was in a disheveled state, wet and dirty, with blood on her legs. When asked what happened, she responded, "a Negro had choked me". Later, while the victim was being cleaned up, she stated that the man had taken off her underwear and stuck something in her. Bennett was arrested by MPs at the base movie theater a few hours later. Bennett was tried at a general court-martial at the Lehener Kaserne, the former military barracks of the 59th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial-Royal Landwehr in Salzburg, on February 8, 1955. The military court heard medical testimony from a doctor who examined the victim at the officer's home, as well as another who saw her later that day at the nearby hospital. Both agreed she had been sexually assaulted. A month later the court-martial found Bennett guilty of rape and attempted premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death. The death sentence was upheld by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 2, 1957. Execution After his sentence was stayed two times by lower courts, the U.S. District Court in Kansas overturned the rulings on appeal in 1960. On February 27, 1961, the newly appointed Secretary of the Army Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr. ordered that the sentence should be carried out. Days before Bennett's scheduled execution, the victim and her parents wrote to President John F. Kennedy, asking for clemency for Bennett. Bennett also wrote to Kennedy, asking for clemency since the girl did not die. Kennedy took no action on the appeals and let Eisenhower's death warrant stand. Bennett was hanged at United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on April 13, 1961. His last meal consisted of cocktail sauce, hot rolls, cake, peaches, milk and coffee. Bennett's last words were "pray for me". He remains the last person to be executed following a United States Armed Forces court-martial. See also Capital punishment by the United States military Capital punishment in the United States List of most recent executions by jurisdiction List of people executed by the United States military