Paul W. Evans – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

Monmouth Signal
March 25, 1942

This article was supplied by The Office of the Command Historian – Dr. Richard Bingham. The photo of Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Evans was supplied by his family.

Colonel Paul W. Evans committal services, with full military honors, were at Arlington National Cemetery on April 28, 1936. His obituary can be found in the Signal Corps Bulletin, July – August 1936, pp 25-26

Radar Laboratory And Site
At Belmar Named In Honor
Of Late Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Evans
World War I Officer Formerly
Commanded 51st Signal Battalion

The present site of the Signal Corps Radar Laboratory at Belmar, New Jersey, will e designated as Camp Evans in memory of the late Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Evans, according to a War Department special order dated February 17, 1942. The official dedication will take place Tuesday, March 31, at 10:30A.M.  The ceremony willbe held at the site of the present flagpole.  Brigadier General G. L. Van Deusen, Fort Monmouth Commandant and Staff and guests will be welcomed by Lieutenant Colonel Corput, Commanding Officer of Camp Evans, and other officers of that post. Following music by the Signals Corp Band and an invocation by Chaplain Coholan, the Adjutant will read the official order of dedication.  After the flag-raising ceremonies, and the playing of the National Anthem, Brigadier General Van Deusen and Lieuenant Colonel Corput will deliver brief speeches.  The benediction by Chaplain Karl Schleede will close the dedication.

The late Lieutenant Colonel Evans was born in Delaware, Ohio, June 10, 1889, a descendant of pioneer stock dating back to the Revolution.  Graduating from Ohio Wesleyan College as an honor student, and with a B.S. degree, he entered Yale as an engineering student in 1910.

Upon receiving a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery, Regular Army, he left Yale November 25, 1912.  Lieutenant Colonel Evans shortly was transfered to the Signal Corps, and up to the entry of the United States in World War I, he served at various stations in this country and its possessions. During that war, Lieutenant Colonel Evans sailed abroad with the 1st Division, and was promoted along the line to Major, having seen active service in the important battles of Champaigne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, and St. Miheil. He served as Signal Officer. Following his promotion to Lieutanant Colonel, in the National Army, he became the Signal Officer of the 26th Division.

Later, he graduated from the Army War College in Washington, D.C., and the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  In addition to several tours at Fort Monmouth, where he headed the 51st Signal Battalion, he served at various posts in the United States and the Panama Canal Zone, where he died April 10, 1936, at the age of 46. Complications following malaria ended his career.

A recent honor conferred upon Lieutenant Colonel Evan’s memory was the naming of the “Evans”, the largest craft owned and operated by the Signal Corps.  The “Evans,” a 65 foot utility ship, was the seventh vessel added for operations and service with the Signal Corps in the Panama Canal Zone area, and was officially launched and named last August 1, at Oyster Bay, Long Island.

For more information see Information Age.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard