News-Info-Alerts

Re: Korea Ex-POW Gets Decorated for Christmas

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: December 13, 2003

"Christmas Decorations
Former Korean War POW gets Purple Heart

James Rada Times-News Staffwriter

CUMBERLAND — John Evans wondered if he would be dead before the next dawn broke.

The U.S. Army in this part of Korea had started to withdraw in the face of massive resistance. Evans and the rest of his platoon had been left to guard an outpost at the front.

When dawn broke, Evans was still alive, but others in his platoon weren’t. The dead were buried on the hill near where they had fallen.

Then the time came for Evans’ platoon to withdraw, but the question was: How could they get away?

“You take half of the men and I’ll take the other half. We’ll go different directions. One group should make it through,” the platoon leader said.

Evans took his 20 men and headed back over the hill in the direction the platoon had originally come from.

That night in camp, Evans told his group, “Boys, we’ve got guns but no ammunition. If we get caught, we can’t let the Chinese get hold of our weapons.”

So the soldiers disassembled their weapons. They buried some pieces and spread the remainder all around the countryside.

The next day the group was captured and Evans began his 28-month ordeal as a prisoner of war.

“When they found out I had taken the machine guns apart and thrown the parts all around, they gave me a rough time,” said Evans.

The rough time consisted of having his collarbone broken and his shoulder dislocated.

The American prisoners lived in groups of 12 in 9-foot by 12-foot huts. They could have a fire for one hour a day and each blanket had to be shared between two men.

“If you wanted to eat two meals a day, you cut wood. If you didn’t, you got only one meal,” said Evans.

The food tasted horrible but it kept a person alive. The soldiers shared their meals so that the sick and injured got enough food to survive.

Evans weighed 192 pounds when he was captured. He weighed 119 pounds when he was released as part of a prisoner exchange.

On Tuesday morning, Evans, a Midlothian resident and now 73 years old, was presented a Purple Heart medal by U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett for wounds he received in 1951 while helping his platoon withdraw from a different area of Korea.

During that incident, Evans wound up spending six weeks recuperating in a hospital in Japan.

“I have no idea why it took so long to get this. I’ve got five other medals. I tried to get this one for 52 years,” said Evans.

He thanked Bartlett and his staff for straightening things out in six weeks.

James Rada may be contacted at jrada@times-news.com

©2003 Cumberland Times-News "