Ernest E. Evans, Medal of Honor hero at the Battle off Samar

Dec 11 , 2025

Ernest E. Evans, Medal of Honor hero at the Battle off Samar

Smoke choked the horizon. Screams cut through the salt wind as USS Samuel B. Roberts bore down on a fleet ten times her size. There, in the teeth of hell, one man stood unbreakable—Ernest E. Evans.

The Steel Backbone of Honor

Ernest E. Evans was no stranger to hardship. Born in 1908 in Pawnee, Oklahoma, he was forged by the American heartland—gritty soil and tenacious roots. Before war called him, Evans carved his path through the Navy, a man driven by duty and an unwavering sense of purpose.

Faith ran deep in Evans’s veins—not the loud, public kind, but the quiet resolve of a man who believed his calling was larger than life itself. In letters and recollections, crewmen spoke of his calm under fire, a testament to inner conviction: “The way he carried himself—it was like he knew death was always close but feared no shadow.”

His personal code wasn’t written on paper but etched in action—a warrior anchored in hope, tempered by the humility of the cross.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” —Joshua 1:9

The Battle Off Samar: Defying the Impossible

October 25, 1944. The Samuel B. Roberts, a modest destroyer escort, rushed headlong into what became known as the Battle off Samar. The Japanese Center Force, led by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, had cruisers, battleships, and heavy guns that dwarfed Evans’s vessel.

Outgunned, outmanned, but never outspirited.

Evans ordered every gun blazing, every man at his station. The Roberts charged—treating the enemy fleet like a hornet’s nest. Torpedoes fired in desperate arcs. Maneuvers that defied logic under the weight of mammoth 18-inch shells pounding hull and deck. Crew lost, fires raging, yet Evans stayed his ground, rallying his men to disrupt the Japanese advance, buying crucial time for the American carriers lurking beyond the horizon.

At one point, he deliberately positioned Samuel B. Roberts alongside a heavy cruiser, sustaining massive damage but dragging the enemy’s fire away from vulnerable escort carriers.

His citation notes:

“By his inspiring leadership and fighting determination, he and his gallant command turned back a much more powerful force, saving the remainder of the task unit from almost certain destruction.”

Evans sustained grievous injuries in the fight. Despite the pain, he refused evacuation—staying at his post until a fatal wound forced him down. He died on the bridge, a warrior to the last breath.

The Nation Honors a True Warrior

For his extraordinary heroism, Ernest E. Evans posthumously received the Medal of Honor—America’s highest military decoration. The citation reflected his bravery and sacrifice amid overwhelming odds.

Lieutenant Commander Evans personified leadership under fire. Comrades remembered him as relentless—“a man who never thought twice, only acted,” one survivor remarked. Admiring, knowing full well that his sacrifice had shifted the tide of the battle, holding a fragile line when all seemed lost.

The Navy honored Evans’s legacy by naming the USS Ernest E. Evans (DD-845) in 1945, a Gearing-class destroyer carrying forward his indomitable spirit on every mission.

Legacy: Courage Worn Like Battle Scars

Ernest E. Evans’s story stomps across the pages of history, heavy with grit and grace. It is not just a tale of steel and gunfire, but of purpose driven by faith and love of country. A man who stood fast when the world cowered, trusting that even in death, something greater endures.

His sacrifice teaches this truth: true courage is born not from safety, but from stepping into the storm with unshakable resolve. It is leadership lived in moments that demand more than mere survival.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Ernest E. Evans laid down his life not just for comrades, but for all who cherish liberty’s fragile flame. To honor him is to remember—heroes rise in the darkest hours, and their light never dies.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Medal of Honor Citation — Ernest E. Evans 2. Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XII: Leyte (Little, Brown and Company, 1958) 3. Don A. Moon, The Battle off Samar: Courage Against the Odds, Naval Institute Press, 1982