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Contact Info
Home Town Fall River, Wisc.
Last Address Interment was Hillside Cemetery, in Columbus WI, w/full military honors.
Date of Passing May 18, 2017
Location of Interment Hillside Cemetery - Columbus, Wisconsin
Bill was born on March 9, 1924, at St. Mary's Hospital in Columbus, Wis. He was the son of Wallace William Evans and Genevieve (Dunn) Evans of Fall River, Wis. He grew up on Main Street in Fall River, attending The Fall River Public Schools through his junior year in high school. For his senior year, he transferred to St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, from which he graduated in 1942. While at St. John's, Bill was a member of the academic honor society (The Dragon Society); earned letters in varsity basketball and baseball; and was known to his classmates as "Riley." Bill regretted that St. John's had no boxing team as this was his favorite sport and one in which he had excelled as a "Pirate" at Fall River High School.
Bill enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943. After basic training at Great Lakes, he specialized in communications and was then stationed in New York City. After many North Atlantic crossings during the war, he was stationed in Guam. For the remainder of his time in the Navy, Bill attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., as an Officer Candidate studying business. One of Bill's fondest memories was winning a boxing tournament while at MIT representing the Navy. He decided that the life of a career Naval Officer wasn't for him, so in 1946 he was honorably discharged from the Navy. Bill continued his study of business at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, from which he graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor in Business Administration degree.
Other Comments:
Bill Evans was a member and past president of the Wisconsin Canners and Freezers Association, the National Canners and Freezers Association and its Old Guard Society, the National Food Processors Association, member and past president of the Columbus Rotary Club, member of the John C. Brossard Post 2219 Veterans of Foreign Wars, longtime board member of the Columbus Water & Light Department and lifelong member of Olivet Congregational United Church of Christ. Bill's favorite sporting activities in his later years were golfing with friends and family; and shaking the dice with anyone brave enough to grab the cup.
.oOo.
Born in Columbus, Wis., at St. Mary's Hospital. Raised four miles up the road in Fall River. Upon his discharge from the Navy Bill returned to Fall River and became the President of Fall River Cannery. During most of his adult life he lived in Columbus and worked in Fall River. He was buried at Columbus, Wis.
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories RMT Radioman Telegrapher. Bill enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943. After basic training at Great Lakes, he specialized in communications and was then stationed in New York City. After many North Atlantic crossings during the war, he was stationed in Guam. For the remainder of his time in the Navy, Bill attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., studying business. One of Bill's fondest memories was winning a boxing tournament while at MIT representing the Navy. He decided that the life of a career Naval Officer wasn't for him, so in 1946 he was honorably discharged from the Navy.