Ernest E. Evans' Heroism on USS Samuel B. Roberts at Leyte Gulf

Jan 23 , 2026

Ernest E. Evans' Heroism on USS Samuel B. Roberts at Leyte Gulf

Ernest E. Evans stood on the deck of the USS Samuel B. Roberts. The sky was ablaze with tracer fire. Enemy shells screamed overhead. His destroyer escort was outgunned, outmatched, alone. But Evans’s rifle was pointed at the heart of a storm—a storm he would not let break his men.

The Making of a Warrior

Born in 1908, Ernest Edwin Evans came from California soil and salt air. A Navy man through and through—graduated Annapolis in 1926, then decades of service sharpened into steely resolve. The kind of man who wears his scars invisible, carries his burdens heavy but silent. His faith wasn’t shouted but lived —a quiet compass in the chaos.

He knew war was hell, but also believed God could carve grace from gunpowder ash. His command was simple: “Keep your powder dry. Do your duty.” Honor wasn’t a word to him; it was the breath in his lungs.

The Battle That Defined Him

October 25, 1944. The Samuel B. Roberts, a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort, was part of Task Unit 77.4.3—an escort carrier group codenamed "Taffy 3"—caught in the jaws of the Leyte Gulf battle. Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers bore down like thunderclouds—bigger, faster, deadlier.

Evans faced the might of Vice Admiral Kurita's Center Force. The USS Samuel B. Roberts was a single squirrel trying to battle tigers.

With no fighter cover, against battleships and heavy cruisers, Evans gave the order: attack. He charged headlong, firing torpedoes up close, his tiny ship weaving through shells and plunging torpedoes. Despite severe damage—holes in the hull, wounded crew—he pressed forward.

His ship became a battering ram, distracting the enemy to save escort carriers. He chose sacrifice over survival.

At one point, Evans manned a 5-inch gun himself, firing until he couldn't stand. The Samuel B. Roberts fought like a demon possessed—slowed and damaged three enemy cruisers, scoring hits that reverberated through the Pacific.

But the cost was brutal. The ship took a fatal blow and was lost. Evans went down with his crew, refusing to abandon ship, embodying “no man left behind.”

Prize of Valor: The Medal of Honor

Posthumous Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty ... Destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts gallantly fought Japanese surface units ... inflicting fatal damage on an enemy cruiser ... before slow destruction came to her."

Comrades spoke of Evans with reverence. Captain Harry Hirshfield recalled, “He was the bravest man I ever saw on a ship.” His leadership saved carriers and blunted an overwhelming assault, buying time at the cost of his life.

The legacy honors not just strategy, but spirit—grit hammered from conviction. The Navy named a destroyer, USS Ernest E. Evans (DD-754), in his honor, keeping his name alive on the waves he once ruled.

The Blood Debt and Redemption

Ernest Evans's story is not one of glory but grief—sacrifices etched in the saltwater and blood of sacrifice. He gave everything because he believed some things were worth dying for.

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

His fight reminds us that courage lives in scars, in unyielding resolve when all seems lost. Evans did not have the luxury to retreat; his faith and leadership anchored him in hell’s storm.

Legacy Anchored in Purpose

Today, Evans’s battle pulses through fractured memories of veterans holding fast to their own hard-fought peace. His sacrifice whispers in the ears of warriors and civilians alike: Courage isn’t absence of fear. It’s the resolve to move forward despite it.

Ernest E. Evans gave his ship, his life, his all—not for fame, but for the American brothers beside him. Redemption found not in survival, but in sacrifice.

When the waters calm, and history quiets the guns, his story roars still: a testament to the warrior’s soul and the price of freedom. Battlegrounds fade—legacy endures.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) Action Report 2. U.S. Navy Medal of Honor Citation, Ernest E. Evans 3. Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines) 4. Naval Institute Proceedings, "The Battle Off Samar: ‘Taffy 3’ Against the Odds"