Samuel Cranston Benson

Born in 1884, Samuel Cranston Benson was an American Presbyterian minister and writer. The main work clearly linked to him is Back from Hell (1918), a World War I memoir published by A. C. McClurg & Co. and cataloged by the Library of Congress under his full name, Samuel Cranston Benson, 1884–1948.

In that book, Benson presents himself as a former pacifist who went to France and served as an ambulance driver with the American Ambulance Service. The memoir is remembered for its direct, personal view of the war and for the way it records his change in outlook under the pressure of frontline experience.

Available records on his wider life are limited, but a memorial record identifies him as Rev. Samuel Cranston Benson and gives his lifespan as 1884 to 1948. For readers, his lasting appeal comes from the immediacy of his wartime storytelling and the unusual mix of religious background, moral struggle, and eyewitness history in his work.