Nov 09 , 2025

Ernest E. Evans at the Battle Off Samar aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts

Ernest E. Evans stood at the bow of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a jagged silhouette carved by smoke and fire. Around him, destruction roared—Japanese battleships loomed like ghosts of war, guns blazing, tearing into the small escort carrier group he was sworn to defend. The world narrowed to a single heartbeat: hold the line, or die.

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Born for the Fight

Ernest Evans was forged in the fires of southern Arkansas. Born 1908, he rose through the Navy ranks, a quiet man shaped by duty—not glory. Faith anchored him; a steady compass in the chaos of war.

“Walk in the way of the Lord with all your heart,” reads Proverbs 3:6—Evans lived this. Discipline, honor, and a soldier’s unyielding heart; these were his creed long before battleship guns spit fire in the Pacific.

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The Battle Off Samar: David Faces Goliath

October 25, 1944. The waters near the Philippine Islands boiled with the thunder of war. Evans commanded the Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort. Small, swift, and lightly armed—not built for taking on heavy cruisers and battleships.

But fate threw his squad into hell. The Japanese Center Force, led by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, bore down with four battleships, six heavy cruisers, and destroyers. Two escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts—known as Taffy 3—stood in the gap.

No one expected survival.

Evans did more than survive.

With grit carved from the marrow of countless drills, he engaged the enemy head-on. Orders terse, voice calm in the storm. Guns blazing, the Roberts charged 20,000-ton warships with torpedoes ready.

“I am attacking, follow me!” he shouted, igniting a furious counterattack.

The Roberts drew enemy fire away from vulnerable carriers, closing distances no one dared approach. Shells tore into her hull; compartments flooded; fires sprang to life. Evans refused to back down.

Through smoke and blood, his destroyer escort launched a single, near-suicidal torpedo strike that severely damaged the heavy cruiser Chikuma. The sacrifice bought critical minutes for the carriers to escape.

By sunset, the Roberts was a burning wreck. Evans refused to abandon ship until the flames made it impossible. He died aboard his ship, bleeding and broken, a warrior to the last breath.

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A Medal—and a Testament

Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, Evans’s citation narrates a story of heroism beyond measure:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while commanding the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts."

The President of the United States recognized Evans’s relentless courage: standing fast against hopeless odds, embodying the warrior’s soul who chooses mission over fear.

His mates remember a leader who never yielded, who made the impossible a mission worth dying for. Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague called Taffy 3’s stand “the most courageous naval action in U.S. history.” Evans’s name echoes in that legacy.

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Legacy Written in Steel and Blood

Evans’s sacrifice teaches hard-earned truths: courage isn’t absence of fear—it’s choosing to act when death stands at your back.

The Samuel B. Roberts stands as a ghost ship in naval memory. The man who commanded her stands in the pantheon of warriors who challenge overwhelming darkness with a torch of defiance.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

His life’s end was his beginning for thousands—carriers escaped, fleets advanced, and freedom’s flame burned brighter.

Ernest E. Evans’s story is salvation writ in sacrifice, a raw reminder that honor costs blood and lives, but yields a legacy none can steal.

For those who bear scars visible or hidden—his story calls out: Hold fast. Fight hard. Leave no man behind.

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Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) Action Report 2. U.S. Congress, Medal of Honor Citation for Ernest E. Evans 3. Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14 4. Sprague, Clifton, The Battle Off Samar: Taffy 3’s Courage Unseen

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