"As soon as I got out of flight school, I went to San Diego for assignment with the PT (Patrol Torpedo Boat) 72 patrol squadron "the Knights of the Sea," Beaver noted. Operating out of Funafuti in the Ellice Islands, he flew the "Black Cat" PBY Catalinas, a squadron of black-painted aircraft that operated mainly at night against enemy shipping."
"We did patrols out of there prior to the invasion of the Central Pacific, the Gilberts, Marshalls and Enewetak islands," Beaver explained. "That took about a year, then we went through Tarawa and Kwajalein, and we had planes in the Marianas during the Marianas campaign. That took another year. Then we came back to the states because our airplanes were worn out by then."
He said the invasion of Tarawa atoll is called one of the worst and bloodiest battles the Marines had ever faced. "The reason was the tide was supposed to be in, but by some phenomena of weather, the tide was out," Beaver noted. "So the landing crafts couldn't get close to the beach for the Marines and soldiers to get off. They were about a mile out and tried to get to the beach in waist-deep water. About 4,000 Japanese were on the island and slaughtered the guys in the water."
After the war was over in 1945, he went to the Philippine island of Samar, the site of the Battle Off Samar, for a short time. From there he went to Guam, then back to the United States.
