The collection consists of: an Iron Cross 2nd Class award document (143x201mm, near very fine); a War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords award document (148x209mm, near very fine); a Wound Badge in Black award document (149x209mm, better than fine); a post war Heer discharge document (210x274mm, poor).
The Iron Cross 2nd Class award document is named to Oberwachtmeister (Artillery equivalent of Master Sergeant) Bender on the Staff of 2nd Battery of Artillery Regiment 9. It is dated to September 2, 1942 and signed in blue ink by the commander of the 9th Infantry Division, Generalmajor Siegmund Freiherr von Schleinitz (1890–1968), a recipient of the Knight’s Cross. A note on the document states that Bender received the Iron Cross 1st Class on June 1, 1944.
The War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords award document is named to Unteroffizier (NCO) Bender of the 2nd Battery of Artillery Regiment 9. It is dated to December 12, 1940 and signed in black ink by the commander of the 9th Infantry Division, Generalleutnant Erwin Vierow (1890–1982), a recipient of the Knight’s Cross.
The Wound Badge in Black award document is named to Oberwachtmeister Hermann Bender of the 6th Company of Artillery Regiment 9 for being wounded twice on July 23, 1944. It is dated to Siegen (western Germany) on December 14, 1944 and signed in pencil by a Chief Medical Officer and Oberstabsarzt, the name is illegible.
The post war Heer discharge document states that Bender was born on December 11, 1916 in Weidenau (part of the city of Siegen, western Germany). During the war, he lost his left pinky, had suffered from Malaria, and was shot in the right lower leg. He was discharged from the Heer on April 8, 1946.