Menu
  • Abous us
  • Search database
  • Resources
  • Donate
  • Faq

Evans Herbert William

Name:
Herbert William Evans
Rank:
Second Lieutenant
Serial Number:
O-740778
Unit:
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Date of Death:
1944-03-27
State:
South Dakota
Cemetery:
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
Plot:
Section 60
Row:
Grave:
8249
Decoration:
Comments:

Herbert William Evans was born on December 27, 1917 in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota. He attended graduated from Rapid City High School in 1935. After his graduation, Herbert went on to attend USD in Vermillion, South Dakota. Here he was the editor of The Volante, a school paper. He graduated in 1939 and became a staff member of RTRI radio in Sioux City, IA, but soon after went to work with Vermillion's newspaper, Plain Talk.

Soon after starting his job, Herbert joined the Air Corps in Vermillion, and reported for active duty on April 4, 1942, at Fort Meade, SD. He trained first in Santa Ana, California, and then completed his training in Cheyenne, Wyoming. His overseas assignment began on January 22, 1944.

On March 27, 1944, a C-46 crewed by four airmen departed a base in Kunming, China, on route to Sookerating, India, as part of the massive allied resupply missions over the Himalayan Mountains, referred to as the "Hump." En route one of the crewmen called out for a bearing, suggesting the aircraft was lost. There was no further communication with the crew. The aircraft never reached its destination, and searches during and following World War II failed to locate the crash site.

1st Lt. Herbert Evans was killed while flying supplies from China to India. His ultimate fate and that of three airmen in the plane with him were not known until Chinese officials reported in 2001 that they had come across the wreckage of a World War II plane in a remote part of Tibet. He is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has memorial markers at the Black Hills National Cemetery and the Mountain View Cemetery, in Rapid City, SD.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov