Arthur Reginald Evans (14 May 1905 - 31 January 1989) was a shipping clerk at Paddington, a suburb of Sydney, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 25 July 1940. He was allotted service number NX57823 and served with the 2/9th Army Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery until discharged on 9 October 1942 as a Warrant Officer Class 2. [1]
He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Naval Board in 1922 set up coastwatching organisation that was operated through the Naval Intelligence Division. Originally confined to mainland Australia it was expanded to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands at the outbreak of war in 1939. Evans who had worked in the Solomon Islands was recruited by the Coastwatchers and was commissioned a sub lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RANVR) on 11 October 1942.[2] [3]
Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Reginald Evans DSC secretly manned an observation post atop Kolombangara island while over 10,000 Japanese soldiers were camped at Vila, Solomon Islands, on the southeastern tip of the same circular volcanic island.
Evans spotted the explosion of John F. Kennedy's boat PT-109 during World War II on 2 August 1943, but did not realize at the time it was an Allied loss. Evans later received and decoded the message that the PT-109 was missing, and he dispatched Solomon Islander scouts Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in dugout canoes to find the crew.
Evans met with John F. Kennedy after he became President of the United States, visiting the White House on 1 May 1961. He died at age 84 on 31 January 1989.[4]
Evans would be mentioned by name in Jimmy Dean's "PT-109" song, the Warner Brothers PT-109 movie, in which he was portrayed by Michael Pate, and a 2002 National Geographic special, The Search for Kennedy's PT 109.. 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".
"Meeting with A.R. "Reg" Evans, the Australian coast watcher who helped rescue the crew of PT 109 in 1943"
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