Arthur Walter Evans (alias "Walter Simpson") (8 April 1891 – 1 November 1936) was an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...

forces.

Details

Evans was 27 years old, and a

lance sergeant Lance sergeant (LSgt or L/Sgt) is an appointment in the armies of the Commonwealth and formerly also a rank in the United States Army. Commonwealth Lance-sergeant in the armies of the Commonwealth was an appointment given to a corporal so they ...

in the 6th Battalion,

The Lincolnshire Regiment The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. He was awarded the VC under the alias Walter Simpson with which he had enlisted in the army. On 2 September 1918 south west of Etaing, France, a patrol reconnoitring on the west bank of a river sighted an enemy machine-gun on the east bank. The river being very deep at that point, Lance Sergeant Evans volunteered to swim across and having done so crawled up behind the machine-gun post, where he shot the sentry and another man and made four more surrender. After a crossing had been found and one officer and one man joined him, machine-gun and rifle fire was opened on them. The officer was wounded and Sergeant Evans covered his withdrawal under very heavy fire.

The citation

The citation reads: He was later permitted to re-assume his original name.

Further information

After the war he emigrated to Australia and served in the

Australian Tank Corps The Australian Tank Corps was gazetted in December 1927 and officially came into existence the following year. It received a small number of tanks in September 1929 and from this, Australia’s first armoured unit – the 1st Tank Section & ...

References

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Lancashire)''

* * ''Liverpool VCs'' (James Murphy, Pen and Sword Books, 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Arthur 1891 births 1936 deaths Royal Lincolnshire Regiment soldiers British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal British emigrants to Australia Victoria Cross awardees from Liverpool Australian Army soldiers British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross