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Arthur Reginald Evans AI simulator
(@Arthur Reginald Evans_simulator)
Hub AI
Arthur Reginald Evans AI simulator
(@Arthur Reginald Evans_simulator)
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.
Evans was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 14 May 1905, the oldest of three children to parents Stuart and Edith. 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.
In 1929, he went to Vanuatu as the assistant manager of a coconut plantation. 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.
After the outbreak of World War II in Europe, he returned to Australia to enlist in the navy in 1940 but was knocked back. On 25 July 1940, Evans enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and served with the 2/9th Army Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, becoming a Warrant Officer Class 2. He sailed to the Middle East in 1941 with the AIF. When the Pacific war started, his unit was recalled to defend Australia.
After suffering a bout of malaria, he applied for a transfer to the navy. He was discharged from the AIF on 9 October 1942. Two days later he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR). He was quickly assigned to serve in the secretive Coast Watch Organisation since his knowledge of the Solomon Islands meant he was of value to Naval Intelligence.
In his new role, he was sent to Guadalcanal in December 1942 for further training. He then covertly manned an observation post atop Mount Veve volcano on Kolombangara, a small circular volcanic island, with the aid of local Melanesian guides. Here, he observed the airstrips and the 10,000 Japanese soldiers who were camped at Vila, on the island's southeastern tip. In May 1943, he was joined by Frank Nash, an American sent to assist him. In order to increase the area observed, he requested a relocation to nearby Gomu Island across the Blackett Strait.
In the moonless early hours of 2 August 1943, as Evans was planning to leave for Gomu, he spotted the explosion of John F. Kennedy's boat PT-109, although he did not realise at the time it was an Allied loss. At 9:30 am he received and decoded the Playfair-encrypted message, "PT Boat 109 lost in action in Blackett Strait two miles SW Meresu Cove. Crew of twelve. Request any information."
Evans dispatched one of his five teams of Solomon Islander scouts, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, in dugout canoes to locate the crew. On 5 August, they located the survivors and returned to Rendova with a message written on a coconut. It read:
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.
Evans was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 14 May 1905, the oldest of three children to parents Stuart and Edith. 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.
In 1929, he went to Vanuatu as the assistant manager of a coconut plantation. 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.
After the outbreak of World War II in Europe, he returned to Australia to enlist in the navy in 1940 but was knocked back. On 25 July 1940, Evans enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and served with the 2/9th Army Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, becoming a Warrant Officer Class 2. He sailed to the Middle East in 1941 with the AIF. When the Pacific war started, his unit was recalled to defend Australia.
After suffering a bout of malaria, he applied for a transfer to the navy. He was discharged from the AIF on 9 October 1942. Two days later he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR). He was quickly assigned to serve in the secretive Coast Watch Organisation since his knowledge of the Solomon Islands meant he was of value to Naval Intelligence.
In his new role, he was sent to Guadalcanal in December 1942 for further training. He then covertly manned an observation post atop Mount Veve volcano on Kolombangara, a small circular volcanic island, with the aid of local Melanesian guides. Here, he observed the airstrips and the 10,000 Japanese soldiers who were camped at Vila, on the island's southeastern tip. In May 1943, he was joined by Frank Nash, an American sent to assist him. In order to increase the area observed, he requested a relocation to nearby Gomu Island across the Blackett Strait.
In the moonless early hours of 2 August 1943, as Evans was planning to leave for Gomu, he spotted the explosion of John F. Kennedy's boat PT-109, although he did not realise at the time it was an Allied loss. At 9:30 am he received and decoded the Playfair-encrypted message, "PT Boat 109 lost in action in Blackett Strait two miles SW Meresu Cove. Crew of twelve. Request any information."
Evans dispatched one of his five teams of Solomon Islander scouts, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, in dugout canoes to locate the crew. On 5 August, they located the survivors and returned to Rendova with a message written on a coconut. It read: