• Battle of Midway

Date of birth:

February 24th, 1914 (Chicago/Illinois, United States)

Date of death:

July 19th, 1942 (near Oahu, Hawaii)

Nationality:

American (1776 - present, Republic)

Gus Bebas was commissioned on 26th May 1938 as Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Between 16th and 30th June 1939 he was trained at the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps and the heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45). On 22nd January 1940 he was honorably discharged as Ensign and enlisted the following day as Seaman 2nd Class. Between 14th February and 14th March 1940 he attended elementary flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base Glenview which was followed by a secondary training between 15th December 1940 and 15th January 1941. He was honorably discharged on 19th February 1941 and received his appointment as aviation cadet USNR. The next day he started further training with the Naval Air Station (NAS), Pensacola. On 5th September 1941 he was appointed Naval Aviator No. 8779 and received his promotion to Ensign A-V(N) on the 26th. The same day he was assigned to the Advanced Carrier Training Group, Atlantic Fleet. Bebas reported to the Curtiss SBC-3-equipped Bombing Squadron (VB) 8, on the carrier U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8) two days before Christmas of 1941.
When the Hornet sailed for the Pacific, the unit was re-equipped with the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless. Bebas was active during the Battle of Midway. After the battle the Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor and Bebas' unit fullfilled operational training. During a training on 19th July 1942 near Barber's Point, Oahu, Bebas' plane (SBD-3 BuNo 4573) crashed into the sea. Bebas and his obsever/tailgunner Ensign William M. Stevens were killed.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Unit:

Bombing Squadron 8 (VB-8), U.S.S. Hornet (CV 8)

During the first day of the Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942, Bebas flew with VB-8 in the first strike from Task Force 16, but his squadron did not locate the enemy, flying to Midway and thence, after refueling, back to the ship. The next afternoon, 5 June, he participated in the search for the damaged Japanese carrier Hiryu, rumored to be nearby. Not finding her (Hiryu had actually sunk long before), Bombing 8 pounced on the destroyer Tanikaze instead. Bebas’s bomb missed that skillfully fought ship, falling only 100 feet from her port quarter. On the afternoon of 6 June, he took part in strikes flown against the heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma and their screening destroyers, scoring a damaging near miss on Mogami in the face of heavy antiaircraft fire. This display of “courageous conduct and stern devotion” earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross.

• Photo 1: Northwestern University
• - Bill Gonyo