The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Eastbourne using a ½d. stamp on Thursday the 13th. August 1908. It was sent to:
Miss H. Secar,
'Elmhurst',
Lowestoft Road,
Gorleston-on-Sea.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
Dear Harriett,
I hope you have spent
a lovely holiday.
We went to see the
Bioscope on the pier.
The weather is lovely
here.
We have such a grand
view from our window,
we can see right across
the sea.
With much love,
May."
Ernest E. Evans
So what else happened on the day that May posted the card to Harriett?
Well, the 13th. August 1908 marked the birth in Pawnee, Oklahoma of Ernest Edwin "Big Chief" Evans.
Ernest was an officer of the United States Navy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Samar, off the Philippine Islands, in World War II.
Ernest E. Evans - The Early Years
Evans, of Native American ancestry (half Cherokee and one quarter Creek), graduated from Muskogee Central High School.
After one year of enlisted service in the Navy, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, entering as a Midshipman on the 29th. June 1927. He graduated from the academy in 1931.
Ernest E. Evans in World War II
On the 9th. August 1941, Evans was assigned to the destroyer Alden, and was serving on her in the East Indies when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday the 7th. December of that year.
He became commanding officer of Alden on the 14th. March 1942, and held that position until the 7th. July 1943. While serving on Alden, he participated in operations in and around Australia, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.
In mid-1943, Evans was placed in charge of the fitting out of the destroyer Johnston in Seattle, Washington. Ernest assumed command of Johnston at her commissioning on the 27th. October 1943, declaring to the assembled crew:
"This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend
to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't
want to go along had better get off right now".
Ernest was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in sinking the Japanese submarine I-176 on the 16th. May 1944.
Ernest E. Evans and the Battle of Samar
In the Battle of Samar, Evans led Johnston until it was sunk on the 25th. October 1944 by a Japanese force that was vastly superior in number, firepower, and armor.
Johnston, together with the destroyers Hoel and Heermann, four destroyer escorts and six escort carriers (CVEs), formed the task unit known as Taffy 3.
This group, together with planes from Taffy 2, forced a Japanese battlegroup consisting of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 11 destroyers to abort its original mission to attack the landing beaches at Leyte under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, and retreat.
The famous battle is known as "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors", after the 2004 book of the same title.
When the Japanese fleet was first sighted, Evans did not hesitate. After laying a smoke screen to help hide the escort carriers from enemy gunfire, he ordered his helm hard to port.
He then led his destroyer out of the task unit's circular anti-aircraft disposition in favor of charging the enemy alone in order to make a torpedo attack.
Some claim that Evans told his crew over the ship's intercom:
"A large Japanese fleet has been contacted.
They are fifteen miles away, and headed in
our direction.
They are believed to have four battleships,
eight cruisers, and a number of destroyers.
This will be a fight against overwhelming odds
from which survival cannot be expected.
We will do what damage we can."
However, other sources credit the latter part of this dramatic announcement to lieutenant commander Robert W. Copeland of Samuel B. Roberts, who charged in with Evans on a subsequent torpedo attack.
Death and Legacy of Ernest E. Evans
Evans' fate during the battle was never conclusively established, and remains the subject of continuing conjecture among the ship's survivors.
Some say that he was hit by Japanese naval shellfire; others that he was able to jump into a damaged motor whaleboat.
What is known is that he was seriously wounded during the battle; that he lived long enough to give the order to abandon ship; and that he was not among those rescued.
Evans died at the age of 36 during the battle on the 25th. October 1944. His remains were not recovered; his name is listed on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery.
Ernest was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his material contribution to the decisive victory won in Leyte Gulf, and shared in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded his group for this action in which he was killed.
He was also awarded the Bronze Star and the Philippine Liberation Medal.
In 1955, the destroyer escort USS Evans was named in Evans' honor. It was decommissioned in 1968, and no active ship carries the name of Evans or Johnston, although a number of active ships have been named for Samuel B. Roberts and her crew.
On the 23rd. May 2013, the Newport, Rhode Island, Surface Warfare Officers School's virtual simulator for ship-handling training was dedicated as the Evans Full Mission-2 Simulator in Evans' honor.
On the 12th. November 2013, a petition was started to name a ship after Evans.