Jack T. Beverstein was born in 1925 in South Bend, Indiana. He grew up during the Great Depression, but it had little impact on him. The lack of family funds did prevent him from joining the Boy Scouts. He could not bring himself to ask his parents for the quarter it would cost for initiation. His father worked in a car factory and later operated a huge press. His mother took care of the home and the children. She was a good mother. Beverstein had two sisters. One was older and the other younger than him. He attended schools that were within walking or bicycling distance. If he chose to hitchhike, he had no problems getting rides. People were very accommodating that way. World events were not discussed in his classes at school. He first heard of the Pearl Harbor attack over the radio while he was at home. He learned more about it in the newspapers and thought the Japanese sneak attack on the United States was horrible. Beverstein was a junior in high school at the time. He and his friends anticipated going into the service. He and a friend had attended a class downtown to identify US and Axis aircraft. He also learned code to prepare himself to go into the Air Force as a flyer. Beverstein and his friend were both accepted into the Navy prior to being drafted. He wanted to be part of the effort to help the United States. The Navy seemed like a branch of service which would be acceptable to him. He could have gone into the Marines but stuck with the Navy. He entered the Navy when he was drafted. Consequently, his parents had no say about his selection of branch of military service. Beverstein's father was too young to have served in World War 1.

Jack Beverstein first entered the Navy in the V5 Program [Annotator's Note: Naval Aviation Cadet program]. He learned to fly solo. Because of a navigational error, he ran low on fuel while returning to base. He neglected to fly the requisite traffic pattern prior to landing but landed immediately instead. That was the beginning of him washing out of flight school. He briefly attended a preparatory school for the Naval Academy but did not make the cut for Annapolis. He elected to go to the Navy school for flying. Meanwhile, the war was progressing when he entered the Ordnance School. He learned to fire a machine gun through an airplane propeller without hitting it. He also learned of the different bombs associated with Navy flight. He took courses on radar. The training lasted 20 weeks. He went to Whidbey Island, Washington after graduation for further gunnery simulation training while in flight. He was precluded from being a TBM [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber] gunner because of his size. He participated on a shakedown cruise for a ship near the outlet to the ocean for the Columbia River. Most crew was seasick and the ship was off course. Beverstein and another man got to the topside and avoided getting seasick like virtually all other crew. He was transferred to San Francisco and boarded a large troop ship called an AP [Annotator's Note: transport ship]. The ship took a southerly route across the equator to the New Hebrides to avoid submarine attack. The ship sailed near Australia, but Beverstein was stationed at Samar. He was anxious to participate in the war effort. The upcoming fight against the Japanese did not weigh heavily on his mind while he was being deployed.

Jack Beverstein was deployed to Samar in the Philippines. He was bivouacked in a tent in a cemetery. He liked the populace and his service there. He was surprised on one occasion when he thought a Filipino was carrying a bag of coconuts but it turned out to be Japanese heads. The government had put a bounty out on enemy heads, and the man was going to collect his reward. Beverstein thought the man was a pretty good hunter. Beverstein had little regard for the Japanese because they attacked the United States. Beverstein would go on to Mindoro via PT boat and find indications of cannibalism by the populace. There were no American troops there so the populace was glad the sailors had arrived. They showed the Americans two enemy bodies that had been partially dismembered for the most appetizing parts. The sailors next went up into the mountains with a member of the Philippine army. They were searching for a plane purported to have crashed there. Instead, they found another body similarly cut up as those they had seen previously. The war had ended but posters telling the enemy to surrender had been destroyed. When the Americans decided to fill their canteens with fresh water from a stream, they were cautioned by a local that a whole Filipino family had been slaughtered just upstream. Their remains had been thrown into the stream. The Americans dumped the water from their canteens. The Japanese had previously abused the Filipinos and chased them out of their villages. Beverstein's dislike for the Japanese only increased as a result of these experiences. After the war, Beverstein went to Hawaii and paid tribute to the sailors lost on the Arizona [Annotator's Note: USS Arizona (BB-39)]. He saw Japanese dropping wreaths in homage to the dead lost on the ship. That mellowed his feelings toward the former enemy. While based on Samar, Beverstein found conditions very hot and sandy. There was a Red Cross lady in town who offered him some fun for a certain amount of money. He was not going to subsidize prostitution. He never again supported the Red Cross. While on Samar, Beverstein did little work but just waited to go to Mindoro.

Jack Beverstein found the living conditions on Mindoro to be similar to Samar. The tents were livable. The men made the best of the situation and improvised to improve their comfort. They kept a monkey and a bird as pets. Beverstein was assigned to a bomb dump area. He maintained bombs to replenish the airplanes. He lived in a huge compound that had multiple showers available for the sailors. The dress code was relaxed. The large mess hall was a huge tent with extremely long tables. There was no entertainment there except for a Navy cartoonist who made light of the situation at the base. Beverstein enjoyed the cartoons because they made light of his situation. There were Filipinos who came into the camp. Beverstein had a positive feeling toward them and even corresponded with a few after his discharge. Unlike some of the other men, he never looked down on the Filipinos. While he was on guard duty at the camp entrance, a Filipino would stand watch with him. Although some Americans would show disrespect for the local individuals, Beverstein would not do that. One Filipino made a special effort to walk a long distance to and from town to bring bananas to Beverstein. That left a lasting impression on Beverstein. He remembers the incident each time he eats bananas. Beverstein spent about a year on Mindoro. There was an incident with a bomb being tied to the bottom of a truck. As an ordnanceman, Beverstein had the duty of bomb removal. He was fortunate that the incident went off safely. There were no problems with the Japanese. They were on the other side of the island in the mountains. The Filipinos would have alerted the Americans had Japanese been nearby. Beverstein kept in contact with his girl friend and family at home. Mail took a long time to reach him, but when it did, he had a large stack to go through. He also received candy and cookies from his mother. The other men would be excited with the arrival of the treats.

When Jack Beverstein returned home, the point system existed. [Annotator's Note: Following the end of the war, military personnel were allowed to return to civilian life if they had sufficient credits or points. The point system was the military rating system to prioritize the discharge of the more veteran troops before releasing more recent inductees. The system included credit for months in service, months served overseas, and number of children under 18, as well as combat decorations.] Beverstein's base at Mindoro stayed open for awhile to take care of all the bombs stored there. Afterward, he was transferred back to Samar. He departed from there to return to the United States. He considered staying in the Philippines. He had met a dentist while there. He offered Beverstein a gold mine to operate if he would stay in the islands. Although he strongly considered the offer, Beverstein wanted to return home more than he wanted a gold mine. Beverstein returned home on a large ship with nothing to do on it. The voyage was monotonous. The layover in Hawaii was inconsequential since he could not get off the ship. He decided to leave the military after he was stateside because he wanted to get on with his life. He returned to the Studebaker Corporation to earn enough money to go back to school. He utilized the G.I. Bill to transition to civilian life. He attended Indiana University and received a business degree. He became interested in law and attended law school using the G.I. Bill. He took the bar and was admitted to practice in the state of Indiana. He completed seven years of college in less than five years.

Jack Beverstein went to work for the FBI after graduating from law school. He enjoyed the resulting service because he felt like he was doing something for his fellow man. He was a Special Agent and did a bit of everything. He covered anything that came up in his assigned territory. He apprehended fugitives, investigated cases, and other things. One challenging and famous case involved a young woman who was buried alive. He managed to locate the burial site and save the woman's life. He enjoyed the active nature of his career and his military service. Although those experiences were important to him, the moral values established in his youth was of greater importance to him throughout his life.

Jack Beverstein and one other FBI [Annotator's Note: Federal Bureau of Investigation] agent covered the Georgia Ku Klux Klan during the civil rights movement. They infiltrated the organization and established informants within. Problems were proactively curtailed by what they achieved through the people who were embedded in the Klan. An informant notified Beverstein that five black colleges were going to be dynamited. The supplier of the dynamite was from Alabama. Beverstein and his assistants identified that man and let him know he and his perspective activities were known to federal authorities. The Alabamian was warned that if he carried out his plan, he would end up in the penitentiary. The plan never reached fruition. Another incident involved a plan to dynamite a desegregated school bus. Through Beverstein's actions, that plan was also curtailed. Beverstein performed investigative work on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. He covered the funeral march for Dr. King as well as the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama march. He also covered the Liuzzo murder by the Klan. He testified in the case. Beverstein felt that people had the right to do what they elected to do as long it was legal. He opposed illegal activities but not those protected by the law. Beverstein felt J. Edgar Hoover was a dedicated person who was difficult to work for. As an unmarried supervisor, Hoover did not always understand his employees. He was a very strict supervisor. His staff did nothing he opposed. Hoover was committed to the Bureau. His appropriations requests were fiscally conservative to the extent that he had air conditioning removed from the new Bureau automobiles because of the increase in gasoline consumption. After Hoover discovered that he could get more work out of his agents if they were in air conditioned vehicles, he had it reinstalled in their cars.

Jack Beverstein had a good career with the FBI [Annotator's Note: Federal Bureau of Investigation]. His most memorable experience in the Second World War occurred just prior to a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] show. The commanding officer took the stage and announced that the Japanese had capitulated. The subsequent show was excellent because everyone in the audience was so elated with the news that the war was over. Beverstein served in the war because, as an American citizen, he wanted to do what he could to help the effort. He served in the FBI initially for financial reasons but came to really enjoy the work. The war affected his life because of the advantages of the G.I. Bill. He would not have been able to afford college otherwise. It changed his postwar career outlook. The FBI played a significant role in the success of the civil rights movement in its early stages. More disruptive activities against the movement would have occurred without the preventative actions of the FBI. Beverstein and the FBI did their job during those times. His service in the war taught him to be responsible and take care of himself. World War 2 helped the United States become a leading nation in the world. The bombing of the ships at Pearl Harbor was a blessing in disguise. The outdated ships needed upgrading. Bringing us to our knees brought us back to our feet. The National WWII Museum is a great thing. It brings back great memories and teaches citizens to understand that the country can respond to adversity.