Arthur Reginald Evans

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Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Reginald Evans RANVR was an Australian coastwatcher Service^[1] who secretly manned an observation post atop Kolombangara Island while over 10,000 Japanese soldiers were camped on Vila at the southeastern tip of the circular shaped volcanic island. He spotted the explosion of John F. Kennedy's boat PT-109 during World War II on August 2, 1943, but did not realize at the time it was an allied loss. It was he who received and decoded the message that the PT-109 was missing, and he dispatched Solomon Islander scouts Biuku Gasa with Aaron (Eroni) Kumana in dugout canoes to find the crew.

Captain Martin Clemens, Australian Coastwatcher on Guadalcanal, rendered services to Allied forces during the battle for the island (August, 1942-February, 1943). These natives were all members of the Solomon Islands police force. Evans and his scouts would have appeared in similar uniform

Unlike Gasa and Kumana, who were turned back by officials who were unable to communicate with them in English, Evans was able to meet John F. Kennedy as president May 1, 1961 as noted in Kennedy's white house diary.

[edit] Popular Culture

Evans would be mentioned by name in Jimmy Dean's PT-109 song, the Warner Brothers PT-109 movie, and a 2002 National Geographic special. He was even cast as Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter in a 2006 video spoof of the song. In the 1963 movie, it was remarked what kind of a job it would be "it's a lonely job, if he's found, that's how he's going to die".