Nov 26 , 2025
Ernest E. Evans' Last Stand at the Battle off Samar
The steel hell screamed around him—fires raged, ships burned, and impossible odds pressed like a noose. Yet Ernest E. Evans stood unbowed, defiant, the heartbeat of a dying flotilla throwing punches at the jaws of annihilation. This was no surrender. This was a warrior’s final stand.
A Son of Vermont: Faith and Fire
Ernest Edwin Evans was forged in the quiet woods of Rutland, Vermont—where hard labor and straight talk formed a man. Born in 1908, Evans grew from those modest roots into a leader who believed in duty first, self second. The Navy called him before the world was engulfed.
His faith wasn’t tattooed on his sleeve but found quietly in his actions. A Lutheran by upbringing, he carried a code deeper than medals: loyalty, courage, and honor. In the dark hours, when death sat at the table, those were his companions.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” —Joshua 1:9
To Evans, this wasn’t just scripture—it was survival.
The Battle That Defined Him: Samar, October 25, 1944
The morning light broke over the Philippine Sea with whispers of doom. Evans commanded the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a destroyer escort trailing a meager "Taffy 3" task force guarding the flank of a much larger American fleet. Unknown to them, an armada of Japanese battleships and cruisers—the Center Force under Vice Admiral Kurita—was steaming toward them. Overwhelming firepower. Overkill in steel and speed.
The mission was impossible, the stakes, apocalyptic.
When the Japs struck, Evans did not retreat. He charged headlong—guns blazing, engines screaming, a small ship becoming a mighty battle hammer.
The Roberts closed within 4,000 yards of the enemy’s heavy cruisers, launching torpedoes and firing her 5-inch guns like a rabid titan. Even as shells tore through her decks and killed his crew, Evans held the line. He rammed the Japanese cruiser Chōkai—a desperate, brutal move no man made without damn good reason.
His ship, like its captain, was last in line but first in ferocity.
Heroism in the Face of Death
Evans’ Medal of Honor citation tells the raw story:
“With unrelenting determination, he boldly charged the enemy’s mighty warships and fought them at close range, inflicting severe damage… despite overwhelming odds, skillfully maneuvered his ship in attack and defense.”
He was wounded early in the fight but refused aid. He remained on the bridge, guiding his crippled vessel to punish the enemy as long as she could breathe.
The Samuel B. Roberts sank before the day ended, but not before helping to send the Japanese force reeling. Evans went down with his ship and left a legacy carved in blood and steel.
Vice Admiral Clifton Sprague, commanding Taffy 3, said:
“Evans saved Taffy 3… His courage in the face of overwhelming odds was an inspiration.”
Legacy Wrought in Fire
Ernest Evans’ sacrifice epitomizes warrior ethos: fight until the last breath, stand for those who cannot, defy despair with grit. He reminds us that sometimes courage does mean facing death hand-to-hand—unshaken, unyielding.
His name decorates Navy histories, his story taught in halls where future sailors sharpen their souls against the anvil of war. Yet more than that, his life is a rallying cry—the price and purpose of valor.
The Eternal Watch
War scars men like Evans and leaves them with more questions than answers. But in the wreckage of shells and shattered lives, his story shines with hope:
“He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again.” —2 Corinthians 1:10
Ernest E. Evans died that day on Samar, but he lives wherever a soldier holds his ground despite despair—or a veteran carries his burden in silence. This is the redemptive thread running through the darkest hells of combat.
We honor him not for glory, but for the endless vigil—the watch kept by all who have worn the weight of war and yet still stand for something higher.
Sources
1. U.S. Navy, Medal of Honor Citation: Ernest E. Evans 2. Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines 3. City of Rutland archives, Vermont Veterans Historical Records 4. Vice Admiral Clifton Sprague, official after-action reports, Battle off Samar, 1944
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