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Walter attended West Chester High School, located on the northeast corner of Church and Washington streets. He served as the Class Vice President his senior year. He was on the track team and was involved with school plays and art exhibits. Walter, known for his winning smile, but voted most bashful, graduated in 1938. Walter is pictured at right - acting bashful (click to enlarge).
During his senior year of high school, he began dating a junior, Miss Betty Love (pictured at right). Their first date was ice-skating on the Sharpless Lake (today in North Hills). Betty had to borrow a pair of skates. Walter was an excellent skater, jumping over barrels and performing spins. Betty remembers many dates driving into Philadelphia to the Earl and Fox Theaters. Each Theater offered a Big Band Dance followed by a movie.
Walt was very athletic but also was a talented artist. He loved drawing and painting both comics and real life. He had a close friendship with Tommy Bostelle, who became a famed West Chester artist. Walter also admired the work of Walt Disney. Walter obtained employment with Lasko’s Metal Products on West Gay St, and continued dating Betty. (pictured at left)
During flight training at Turner Field in Georgia, Walter met hero Thomas Baum of Phoenixville, PA. They became very close friends even though they were assigned to different squadrons. They spent a lot of their off-time together fishing and hiking in the area around Augusta, Georgia.
Click on these thumbnails of Walt and Tommy to
enlarge.
Nearing his 50th mission mark- for which he would return to the states on furlough, Walter’s plane was lost in a mission over the Adriatic Sea. His plane went down off the coast of Italy during the early stages of the invasion of Italy.
The pilot of the aircraft, Lieutenant Eugene L. Beville, who was captured after bailing out, wrote the following letter dated March 18, 1945, which reads in part:
Flight Officer Walter Bevan’s official date of death was listed as September 4, 1943; the day after his plane was lost. In three months of combat missions, First Lieutenant Walter Bevan received the Air Medal, Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. His bomber was credited with shooting down 6 enemy planes. Walter was survived by his parents, three sisters - Roberta, Jean, and Shirley - and fiancée Miss Betty Love. Later on in life, Walter's sister, Jeann, wrote a deeply moving poem about the day the family received news of the loss of Walter's plane. Click on these images of Walter with his mother and sisters to enlarge.
Notes:
Though not confirmed, it is likely that Bevan was assigned to the 9th Air Force, whose B-24s participated in the Ploesti raid.
Adolf Hitler was obsessed with the war economy in general, and liquid fuel in particular. The petroleum wells and refineries at Ploesti, Rumania, which supplied approximately one third of all the Nazis' fuel oil, therefore became more than just a military target. A raid on Ploesti became a way to strike at Hitler himself. On
August 1, 1943, 177 B-24 Liberators took off from their base in North Africa.
The refinery was soon repaired, though never to operate again at full capacity. It was to be targeted a dozen more times before war's end. Within six months, the amount of oil that Germany was taking from Rumania was cut by eighty percent. Credits:
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Walter
E. Bevan Jr. was born on February 10, 1921 to Walter and
Ernestine Bevan, who lived at 109 Goshen Heights, just outside of West Chester,
Pennsylvania. His father worked as a contractor. Walter Jr. was one of three
children: Roberta, Walter Jr., and Jean and Shirley. The family later moved to
a home at 402 N. Darlington St. in West Chester. 
