70 years later, NLR vet awarded WWII medals

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Wearing a gray suit and clutching a gold cane, 94-year-old Kenneth Evans stood in front of his family inside the Sherwood VFW building on Tuesday to receive 10 military medals and distinctions for his service in World War II.

Evans, who served as an Army infantryman, was part of the second wave of troops who stormed Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, when more than 160,000 troops landed on the French coastline, leading to a series of Allied victories. In September of that same year, Evans was hit in the face by shrapnel (an injury that required 22 stitches in his lower lip) and returned to combat four months later.

The North Little Rock native fought on the front lines in France, Holland and Germany for 19 months and 17 days. And on Tuesday, about 70 years after his return from war, Evans was recognized for this service.

At the ceremony, Evans summed up his military experience in just a few words: "It was just a job we had to do, and we did it," he said.

The presentation gave Evans' family the opportunity to learn about the war and his part in it. Evans rarely spoke about his time in the Army, he said. For many years, his four children didn't even know of his service.

"I never talked about it," Evans said. "I didn't think much about it. I never lost no sleep about it."

After the hour-long ceremony Tuesday, Evans' children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren gave him a round of applause. Then, they formed a line, each wanting a photo with "Grandpa."

Arthur Evans, Kenneth's son, toiled for five years to make the moment happen. He communicated with the offices of U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., and U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., to gather the necessary documentation for the medals his father earned but never received.

"Most of the time, these guys going over there were very young, and if they received a medal it was piecemeal -- one here, one there," said Steve Gray, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and staff member for Boozman. "A lot of times, they never had the whole family together to culminate their service. So that's what all of this is about."

After giving a brief history of the war, Gray handed Evans a board holding his 10 distinctions: the Infantryman Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge, Presidential Unit Citation, Occupation Medal, WWII Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Evans was 24 when he stormed Normandy. From there, he and the rest of the 115th Infantry Regiment moved south and west, securing ports, as well as a large German submarine base. He went deeper into France, and then into Holland. He was part of a campaign that pushed past a defensive line in Gillrath, Germany, toward the Roar River, where he was injured. When the war ended, Evans stayed on to help in the aftermath.

After he returned home in October 1945, Evans built a home in the Levy neighborhood of North Little Rock, where he still lives. For 38 years, he worked at a chemical company, and he and his wife raised four children.

A few years after his first wife died, Evans got in touch with a woman he met while serving in France.

"I met this young lady over there," Evans said. "She had a garden along where we had to stand guard every day."

It had been 45 years since Evans and the woman, Ghazala, spoke. Soon after Evans contacted her, Ghazala visited him in America. They corresponded for a while, and in 1992, both nearing age 70, they were married.

"We were together until she passed away recently," Evans said. "For 20-something years."

Right after they married, the couple spent six weeks in Normandy: the place they first met, and a place Evans remembers clearly.

"We went all over the country, but we never could locate where I was stationed," Evans said. "Everything has changed so much."

Metro on 06/25/2014