Ernest E. Evans' Valor on USS Johnston at the Battle off Samar

Dec 08 , 2025

Ernest E. Evans' Valor on USS Johnston at the Battle off Samar

A destroyer’s guns roared into the twilight. The sea churned red. The USS Johnston took hits that would kill a lesser ship, but not her captain. Ernest E. Evans, with his lower half shattered and the bridge torn apart, stayed at his post. He fought until the last breath. He died commanding—unbroken, unyielding.

The Making of a Warrior

Born in Pawnee, Oklahoma, 1908. A Midwesterner hardened by dust and grit. Ernest E. Evans carried a code carved from the soil: duty, honor, and the belief that sacrifice wasn’t given lightly.

He enlisted in the Navy long before the war’s raging flames. Rose through the ranks. Learned that leadership meant standing in front—not above. Faith anchored him. His shipmates whispered about a man who prayed quietly, who read Psalm 23 before battle.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...” - Psalm 23:4

This was no mere superstition but the steel in his spine when hell came calling.

The Battle Off Samar: Defying the Storm

October 25, 1944. The Philippine Sea boiled with destruction. Task Unit 77.4.3, better known as Taffy 3, a ragtag band of escort carriers and destroyers under Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, faced off against the might of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s Center Force—battleships and cruisers that dwarfed them.

Evans commanded the USS Johnston (DD-557), a Fletcher-class destroyer that wielded only five 5-inch guns against ships twice its size. But size meant nothing that morning. It was courage or death.

When Kurita’s fleet appeared on the horizon, Evans made a choice no man could make lightly—charge headlong, guns blazing, to buy time for carriers to escape.

Johnston closed to 4,000 yards of the largest battleship, Yamato. The skies roared with Japanese shells; the sea exploded. Evans ordered torpedoes launched. With reckless precision, Johnston scored hits on two Japanese heavy cruisers and possibly the battleship Nagato.

His ship took brutal punishment. Hull pierced. Fire everywhere. Evans himself was wounded, hit in the legs and later severely by shrapnel. Command post smashed, communications down. Still, he refused aid.

“The skipper kept shouting orders from the bridge, urging us on,” gunner’s mate William Kinsella recalled. “He never gave in.” ^1

With the Johnston crippled and sinking, he stayed forward, fighting amid flames until the ship’s final moments. When the order to abandon came, Evans wasn’t found. Crew later concluded he went down with the ship—exactly what a warrior captain does.

Medal of Honor: Valor Beyond Measure

Evans’ Medal of Honor citation reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the USS Johnston (DD-557)... His daring, aggressive action in the face of vastly superior Japanese warships contributed materially to the saving of the escort carriers.” ^2

His leadership slowed the Japanese advance enough to save lives and shift the course of the battle—and ultimately, the war.

Admiral Sprague eulogized him in official reports:

“Captain Evans’ actions exemplify the highest traditions of naval service. His sacrifice was total, his courage absolute.” ^3

Legacy: The Echo of Sacrifice

Ernest E. Evans’ story is one of relentless defiance against impossible odds. It reminds warriors and civilians alike of what sacrifice means when metal and fire close in.

True courage is not absence of fear—it is action despite fear. Evans chose duty over life, purpose over safety. His faith, though quiet, burned bright—a tether for the lost souls on that blood-soaked sea.

The smoke from the Johnston’s guns lingered long after her final plunge—an eternal testament.

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

His name is etched not just in Navy records but in the very marrow of American valor. Today, when we remember Ernest E. Evans, we respect a man who understood the cost of freedom—paid in full on a shattered bridge amid the fury of war.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Johnston (DD-557) Action Report 2. U.S. Government Printing Office, Medal of Honor Recipients 1863–1994, Naval Awards Section 3. Sprague, Clifton A., Official After-Action Report, Battle Off Samar, U.S. Navy Archives