Vietnam veteran to be honored on Nov. 11

A member of Hot Springs’ African-American community who was killed in action in Vietnam will have his name added to the Veterans Memorial of Garland County next month.

Cleveland Evans Jr., who served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, will be honored at the annual Veterans Day Service at the Garland County Veterans Memorial and Military Park on Nov. 11. A brick engraved with his name will be added to more than 1,100 bricks containing the names of local veterans of the U.S. military.

Steve Smith, member of the Veterans Memorial Committee and fellow Vietnam War veteran, said the decision to honor Evans at this year’s ceremony made sense to him.

“The more I read, the more interested I got,” Smith said.

Cleveland Evans attended Langston High School prior to enlisting in the Marines in 1965. Smith said Cleveland Evans was classmates with Webb Community Center Executive Director Bill Watkins, who helped him reach the Evans family for the memorial.

Cleveland Evans’ brother, Jerry Evans, of Lawrence, Kan., said the two grew up “close together” with their family on Walnut Street, off Whittington Avenue. He said his brother had a knack for drawing and auto mechanics.

“I remember one engine — he bought it for $8 and rebuilt it to where it was a really good engine,” Jerry Evans said. “He put it in his ’56 Oldsmobile.”

The Evans brothers enlisted in the military during the Vietnam War — Cleveland joined the Marines immediately after graduating

Langston in 1965, while Jerry joined the Army after graduating Langston in

1967. While Jerry served as an army cook, Cleveland followed his childhood passion and became a mechanic in the Marines.

Jerry Evans said he and his brother deployed to Vietnam in the fall of

1967. In March 1968, Cleveland Evans was stationed in the city of Phu Bai — about 30 miles north of Jerry Evans, who was stationed in a village between his brother and the city of Da Nang.

“He had sent a letter to my commander — but I never received the letter — telling me to be ready for him coming,” Jerry Evans said.

That month, Cleveland Evans boarded an Army helicopter with nine Army servicemen on a visit to Jerry Evans’ outpost. While en route, the helicopter was shot down by North Vietnamese ground forces.

The helicopter was shot down near Camp Evans, a military base between Phu Bai and Jerry Evans’ outpost. Jerry Evans said five of the passengers went to Camp Evans on foot while the other five — one of whom was his brother — stayed on the scene of the crash and waited for the others to return.

“They weren’t able to come back right away,” Jerry Evans said. “They found two of the soldiers in a shallow grave when they did come back.”

Jerry Evans said his commander sought him out when his brother did not show up at his base. He said his commander assumed the two had gotten together and had forgotten about when Cleveland was supposed to report back.

“I said, ‘No, that’s not Cleve. That’s not my brother,’” Jerry Evans said.

On March 26, 1968, the U.S. military designated Cleveland Evans as missing in action. Jerry Evans said he transferred to Thailand to complete his overseas tour after he heard about his brother’s status, as he was the sole surviving son in his family.

“I wanted to go and try to find him myself, but of course, they didn’t allow me to do anything like that,” Jerry Evans said. “It was very upsetting, because we were close, and that last letter I had gotten said that he was coming to see me if he had to walk all the way.”

Jerry Evans said his brother was designated as killed in action seven years after his missing in action designation.

“His remains, to this day, never been found,” Smith said.

“It was very hard, because we didn’t know what happened to him,” Jerry Evans said. “It upset my mother and dad until they passed away and all, and it upset my sisters until they passed away.” have

Though Jerry Evans is unable to travel to Hot Springs for the memorial, his younger sister, Jerldean Ross, will be in attendance.

While Smith is fascinated with Cleveland Evans’ story from a military standpoint, he said his induction into the memorial is important for Hot Springs’ African-American community.

“It’s one of their own,” Smith said. “We owe it to them.”

Smith said the memorial is an opportunity to honor the fallen, which should be done “whenever we can.”

“I think it’s great,” Jerry Evans said. “He’s due it, and it’s been a lot of years.”