Ernest E. Evans's Last Stand Aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts

Nov 21 , 2025

Ernest E. Evans's Last Stand Aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts

Ernest E. Evans stood on the bridge of USS Samuel B. Roberts, a 1,200-ton destroyer escort, staring down a sea dark with death and steel. Before him, a Japanese fleet loomed—battleships, cruisers, carriers—monsters of war, each dwarfing his fragile ship. No hope in the numbers, no room for surrender. Just one man, one crew, one burning mission to slow an impossible enemy.

He charged headlong into hell.

Born for Battle and Burdened With Faith

Ernest Edwin Evans grew up in Iowa, a farm boy with a sense of duty as deep as the Midwest soil. Raised in a devout Presbyterian household, faith wasn’t some abstract concept; it was the backbone of his honor and resolve. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” a verse he leaned on in grim moments.

He enlisted in the Navy in 1934. By the outbreak of World War II, he had already proved himself a capable leader. Quiet but unyielding, Evans held a warrior’s code: protect the weak, fight the right fight, and never leave a man behind. After all, salvation is sometimes forged in blood and iron, not just prayer.

The Battle That Defined Him: Samar, October 25, 1944

The Philippine Sea was a hellscape that morning.

Evans was commanding Destroyer Escort Division 52 aboard Samuel B. Roberts during the Battle off Samar, part of the larger Leyte Gulf engagement. His task? Screen the escort carriers protecting the invasion fleet. But fate hurled him into direct contact with Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s Center Force—four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and eleven destroyers.

His 1,200-ton ship against a dozen times her size.

Without hesitation, Evans ordered an attack.

He rammed into the enemy, firing torpedoes and guns relentlessly, laying smoke to shield the carriers. He closed the distance, despite being pummeled by shells that ripped through his ship like paper. His crew watched their captain shout orders over deafening explosions, man's voice raw with determination. The Samuel B. Roberts became a ghost ship of fiery defiance.

“We’ll go down in history as the little destroyer that fought beyond her peso,” Evans reportedly told his men.

The cost was horrific. The Roberts took hit after hit. Fires spread. Flooding crippled engines. Still, Evans refused to back down.

He gave the order to abandon ship only after Samuel B. Roberts was beyond saving.

Evans went down with his ship shortly after. His sacrifice delayed the Japanese advance, giving the American escort carriers time to escape. His fight bought lives.

Honored in Blood and Bronze

For unparalleled valor, Ernest E. Evans posthumously received the Medal of Honor. His citation reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty... commanding the USS Samuel B. Roberts during fierce and relentless attacks... [he] aggressively attacked a vastly superior enemy force.”

His leadership forced ships three times larger to fall back.

Fellow sailors called his courage “legendary.” Admiral Thomas Kinkaid later said:

“No one ever did more with less.”

Evans’ sacrifice became a symbol of gritty Navy resolve in the Pacific. The Samuel B. Roberts lives on in Navy lore as “the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship.”

Legacy Etched in Courage and Redemption

Ernest E. Evans teaches what few lessons come easy: courage isn’t born of might but of will. Sacrifice is never clean; it is the price of freedom paid in blood, smoke, and shattered dreams.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

His story reminds veterans and civilians alike that heroism often comes from ordinary men answering an impossible call. A reminder that even the smallest ship, with the boldest heart, can change the tide of war.

The seas still whisper his name.

They remember a warrior who stood fast when all seemed lost.

And in that stand, they find hope—unyielding, unwavering, redemptive.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Battle off Samar: The “Last Stand” of the USS Samuel B. Roberts 2. Naval Historical Center, Medal of Honor Citation for Ernest E. Evans 3. Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12: Leyte, June 1944 – January 1945 4. Kinkaid, Admiral Thomas, quoted in Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte