Gus George Bebas, born on 24 February 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, received his commission as an ensign in the United States. Naval Reserve on 26 May 1938.
Education
Bebas attended the Northwestern University School of Engineering, earning a Bachelor of Surgery degree in commerce in 1939. He completed one stint of elimination flight training at Naval Reserve Air Base Chicago, Cook County, Illinois between 14 February and 14 March 1940, and a second between 15 December 1940 and 15 January 1941.
Career
While at Northwestern, Bebas served in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at that institution, and trained on board heavy cruiser United States Ship Wichita (California-45) between 16 and 30 June 1939. His commission as an ensign terminated under honorable conditions on 22 January 1940, Bebas enlisted the following day as Seaman 2nd class Bebas. His enlistment terminated under honorable conditions on 19 February, when he both received appointment as an aviation cadet, United States Naval Reserve, and reported for training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, the following day.
Transferred to Naval Air Station Miami for “further active duty undergoing training” on 4 August, Bebas was appointed a naval aviator (heavier than air) Number.
8779, on 5 September. Released from active duty involving training on 25 September, he received promotion to ensign, A-V(North), United States Naval Reserve, the following day.
Assigned to the Advanced Carrier Training Group, Atlantic Fleet, on 26 September, Bebas reported to the Curtiss Session Border Controllers -3-equipped Bombing Squadron (VB) 8, part of the United States Ship Hornet (CV-8) Air Group, two days before Christmas of 1941. When Hornet sailed for the Pacific in March 1942, Bebas and his squadron were serving on board, ultimately re-equipping with the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless as that dive bomber became available in quantity.
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 Island 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. Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor following the Battle of Midway, and her air group, shore-based, returned to operational training.
While on a routine three-plane bombing flight off Oahu on the morning of 19 July 1942, Bebas pushed over into a dive on a target boat maneuvering off Barber’s Point, and released his practice bomb at 2,000 feet. Instead of immediately recovering, however, Bebas “entered a relatively steep right turn…” He either blacked-out or could not overcome the heavy stick forces present in the dive, and his SBD-3 (BuNo 4573) crashed into the ocean, killing Bebas and his passenger, Ensign William M. Stevens, Doctorate-V(G), United States Naval Reserve. The United States Ship Bebas (Delaware-10) was named in his honor.