The above photos are of S/SGT Thomas L. Evans. He was my Father. He was born July 29th 1918 near Rosemount, Minnesota.
When he joined the US Army in 1938 "three years before Pearl Harbor" he had no idea he was going to be in the Army over seven years.
He was first stationed at Ft Snelling and in Newfoundland before going Europe. He was in England for a year before
going to France with Patton's 3rd Army. His unit was the 160th Combat Engineer Battalion. His units main assignment was
buliding bridges (usually under enemy artillery fire). He was the Platoon Sgt for the Assault Platoon. Their assignment was to set up Bridgeheads
on both sides of a river. Most of the time ahead of the US Infantry. Thus the name Combat Engineers! He was a POW for about
45 minutes when the jeep he was riding in was hit by enemy artillery.After he was captured the German convoy he was riding in was
shot up by American fighter planes and he and his Lieutenant escaped back to American Lines. He always claimed the
US Government owed him for 45 minutes worth of POW pay! He was Honorably Discharged from the US Army in April of 1945.
It was a full month before VE Day.
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