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Contact Info
Home Town Fancy Creek Township, IL
Last Address Armed Forces Retirement Home (formerly the Naval Home) Gulfport MS. Died at Union County Hospital, Anna, IL.
Date of Passing Mar 01, 2006
Location of Interment Camp Butler National Cemetery (VA) - Springfield, Illinois
Chief NAP / Navy Aviation Pilot
Former World War II Enlisted Pilot, Last of a Few
Saturday, March 4, 2006
ANNA, IL -- Richard D. Beaver, 86, of Anna died Wednesday, March 1, 2006, at Union County Hospital.
He was born May 24, 1919, in Fancy Creek Township, IL, son of Otto and Louise Ritterbush Beaver.
Beaver served 20 years in the U.S. Navy. He then worked as an air traffic controller 10 years.
He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Retired Officers Association, Loyal Order of the Moose, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Silver Eagles Association, American Legion, life member of VFW, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Illinois, 32nd Degree member of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Ansar Temple of the Shrine, Capital City Shrine Club, Legion of Honor Unit and Hillbilly Unit.
Beaver was formerly of Gulfport, MS., and Springfield, IL.
Other Comments:
The Navy beckoned, and Dick Beaver took the oath of enlistment Sept. 11, 1938. He became a Machinist's Mate, but he really wanted to fly combat aircraft as a Navy pilot. Graduating from boot camp in San Diego in December 1938, Beaver went aboard the destroyer USS Perkins (DD-377) and worked his way from the deck force to the engine room and made Fireman First Class in three years - before World War II. By August 1942 he'd made Machinist's Mate First Class and was selected for the Enlisted Pilot's Program. By November 1943 he was flying combat patrols in the Pacific.
His first assignment was with the PT (Patrol Torpedo Boat) 72 patrol squadron "the Knights of the Sea" 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.
He participated in patrols prior to the invasion of the Central Pacific, the Gilberts, Marshalls and Enewetak islands, then he went through Tarawa, Kwajalein and the Marianas during the Marianas campaign.
At the end of WWII he was a Chief Petty Officer Aviation Pilot. In 1946 he was commissioned an Ensign and saw additional service during the Korean War. Beaver retired from the Navy in 1958 with the rank of Lieutenant (LT/ACC).
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."
His first assignment was with the PT (Patrol Torpedo Boat) 72 patrol squadron "the Knights of the Sea" 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. 
