Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Lorenzo Sibert Evans Papers, 1942-1952. Accession 51367. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Barbara Evans Newman, 6 August 2014.

Biographical Information

Lorenzo Sibert Evans Jr. was born on 24 January 1911 in Richmond, Virginia, the younger of two children of Lorenzo Sibert Evans and Alma Wren Evans. The younger Evans attended McGuire University School in Richmond and Lawrenceville School in New Jersey before attending college for two years. He then worked as a parts clerk at an automobile dealership in Richmond, and as an oboe player. Evans joined the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, which in 1941 was mobilized into the U.S. Army. He rose from private to sergeant, then completed officer training school in 1942, emerging as a lieutenant. By the summer of 1944 Evans, an artillery officer, was serving in the 71st Regiment of the 44th Infantry Division. The unit was sent to Europe and assigned to the 7th U.S. Army, seeing action in southeastern France. Evans was wounded, resulting in his receiving a Purple Heart, but continued on active duty. His participation in the Allies' fight against Germany's Operation Nordwind in early 1945 earned him a Combat Infantryman Badge and a Bronze star with "V" device for valor. From that point, his unit moved through southern Germany, the Austrian Alps, and northern Italy. He was promoted to captain and received an oak-leaf cluster for his Bronze Star. He returned to the United States, and to civilian life with his wife Champe Carter Winston Evans (1915-1991) and infant child in 1945.

In 1948 he re-enlisted and was assigned intially to the 101st Airborne, then transferred to the 7th Cavalry Regiment in 1951, serving as captain of a heavy weapons unit, Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry. His unit suffered heavy casualties during Operation COMMANDO in October 1951, and was reassigned to Japan in January 1952. When Evans returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1952, he had earned two more oak leaf clusters for his bronze star, another Combat Infantryman Badge, and a second Purple Heart. He served at Camp Pickett until retiring in summer 1954, returning to Richmond with his family. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he found adjustment to civilian life difficult. Evans committed suicide in March 1955, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The above information is excerpted from a biographical sketch provided by Barbara Evans Newman, daughter of Lorenzo Sibert Evans Jr., in 2014.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1942-1952, of Lorenzo Sibert Evans Jr. (1911-1955), consisting chiefly of letters written from Evans to his wife, Champe Carter Winston Evans (1915-1991), while he was away serving first in World War II and then in the Korean War. Evans' letters, telegrams, V-mail, and postcards are often humorous in tone, but also contain more serious observations about his experiences overseas, including advancing into Germany in April 1945 and "eleven days of hell" as part of Operation COMMANDO in Korea, October 1951. Also included are a copy of orders awarding him the Purple Heart, December 1944, the Bronze Star, February 1945, his second Combat Infantry Badge, October 1951, and his second Purple Heart, October 1951; an issue of the "Four by Four" newsletter (for the 44th Infantry Division), 20 January 1945; newspaper clippings; and two photographs of Evans in uniform during the Korean War.