Arthur Reginald Evans
Arthur Reginald Evans, DSC (14 May 1905 – 31 January 1989) was an Australian coastwatcher in the Pacific Ocean theatre in World War II. He is chiefly remembered for having played a significant part in the rescue of future US President John F. Kennedy and his surviving crew after their motor torpedo boat, PT-109, was sunk by the Japanese in August 1943.
Arthur Reginald Evans
Early life[edit]
Evans was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 14 May 1905, the oldest of three children to parents Stuart and Edith.[1] Interested in being a sailor, after high school, he was rejected for a cadetship at the naval college in Jervis Bay, so joined as a senior cadet in the local militia instead, eventually becoming a second lieutenant.[1]
In 1929, he went to Vanuatu as the assistant manager of a coconut plantation.[1] He later returned to Sydney and worked for the shipping company, Burns Philp. He worked as a manager for them in the Solomon Islands for the next decade.[1]
Post-war[edit]
Evans continued in his service. He was discharged from the navy in Adelaide on 16 May 1946.[3] He became an accountant for a firm in Sydney.[1]
Although Evans' letter to Kennedy was kept after the rescue, his identity remained obscure in the media for the next 17 years, as his name from the signature was misread, and other details obscured during the war to protect his identity.[9] Searches for him eventually narrowed the possible candidates, and his identity was confirmed after a congratulatory card he sent for the 1961 presidential inauguration was matched by a handwriting expert to the letter.[9]
Evans was then invited to the US, and met with PT-boat veterans in New York in April 1961,[6] and with Kennedy, visiting the White House on 1 May.[10][11] Earlier, the scouts Gasa and Kumana had been invited to attend his inauguration, but were prevented from attending.[12][13]
While in the US, Evans appeared on various TV shows and was interviewed by several newspapers.[9] In 1961, Robert J. Donovan interviewed Evans for his 1961 book PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II. Evans was mentioned by name in 1962 in Jimmy Dean's "PT-109" song. In 1962, he returned to the Solomons along with celebrity Jack Paar and was able to reunite with his scout friends.[9]
He became best known via the 1963 film PT-109, a Warner Brothers adaptation of Donovan's book, where he was portrayed by Australian Michael Pate. In the film, it was remarked what kind of a job it would be: "it's a lonely job, if he's found, that's how he's going to die".
After the death of Kennedy, the framed letter, and the famous coconut message, was sent to the president's library.[9] In 1973, Walter Lord met Evans while researching his 1977 coastwatcher book, Lonely Vigil. He was featured in a 2002 National Geographic special, The Search for Kennedy's PT 109 and the 2010 Patrick Lindsay book, The Coast Watchers, Behind Enemy Lines: The Men Who Saved the Pacific.[14] He appeared in the 2015 William Doyle book, PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy.
Personal life[edit]
Evans met Getrude Slaney Poole, an amateur actor from Adelaide, who was working in the Solomons in the late 1930s as a secretary to a female lawyer.[1] The couple married in August 1940, three weeks after he joined the army. Gertrude died on 24 June 1963, a month prior to the PT-109 film's Australian premiere. No mention was made of children in the funeral notice.[9]
Evans later remarried another woman, Fran, who also predeceased him. He died aged 84 on 31 January 1989.[1][10]