If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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).
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
February / 1943
Description The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Powerful US naval forces supported the landings.
Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the US Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.
The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre. The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theatre and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
February / 1943
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Beaver was at the Navy yard on Mare Island, Vallejo, Calif., near San Francisco.
"We got underway immediately and made two convoy trips from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor," Beaver noted. "We convoyed the first expeditionary troops to the Pacific out of San Francisco."
Beaver was aboard when the Perkins was engaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Sydney Harbor (Australia). The Perkins was involved in pivotal battles around Guadalcanal and New Guinea, and earned four battle stars during World War II. The only damage the Perkins received while Beaver was a crewman were hits by shrapnel.
Beaver said he was lucky because he'd gotten off the destroyer when a damaged propeller screw caused the ship to return to Pearl Harbor from the South Pacific in August 1942. While repairs were being made, Beaver used his liberty time to take civilian flying lessons. His application for Navy flight school was approved before the Perkins headed back to war.
"They wanted to make me a (chief petty officer) before I left the ship for flight school, but I refused it because I wanted to fly more," he said.
"I'd finished flight school earned my wings when she (Perkins) was sunk in November 1943," Beaver noted. "I was flying combat patrols then what I'd always wanted to do."
Ironically, the Perkins wasn't sunk by enemy fire; it went down after being accidentally rammed by the Australian transport HMAS Duntroon. The Duntroon's crew rescued most of the Perkins crew. Some reports say one Perkins crewman died, others reports say four perished.
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. 
