Dr. Jon Price Evans, a US Army veteran who served in WWII and the Korean War, died in a plane crash along the Thai-Laos border on January 5, 1969 while responding to CIA officers’ operational needs in Vientiane, Laos. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery; his wife Dorathea, who had survived the crash, died 30 years later and is buried with him.
Early Years:
John Price Evans was born on December 14, 1914, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the only child of successful local florists. After completing his studies at Wyoming Seminary (a private, co-ed boarding school in northeastern Pennsylvania), he attended Washington and Lee University and went on to earn a medical degree from Temple University.
In 1943, he joined the Army while doing his residency at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. By this time, John changed his first name to “Jon” because a cousin, with whom he shared the exact name, enlisted in the military at the same time. Jon later obtained a degree in public health from the Walter Reed Institute of Research and graduated from the US Army’s Command and General Staff College and the Armed Forces Staff College.
Throughout his studies, Jon was active in extracurricular activities—on the wrestling team during high school and college, elected to several student offices, and in Greek life as a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He enjoyed sports and was a keen photographer, processing his own black-and-white film. An avid “tinkerer,” he also bragged that he could fix almost any common household item.
Jon married Dorathea (“Dottie ”) Ruth Thomas on October 21, 1943. After their marriage ceremony, he cut their wedding cake with a Civil War-era sword from his family’s collection. The couple had two daughters, Jean and Jone.
Military Career:
Jon, as an Army physician, and Dottie, as an Army nurse, enjoyed the challenging assignments and overseas experiences of military life. Jon once said that the two of them had “a ball” together.
Jon reportedly worked alongside the Office of Strategic Services—CIA’s wartime predecessor—during WWII. After the war, he spent time working in military intelligence and as a defense attache in New Delhi, India, where he expedited the flow of information from the attache’s office to the newly-created CIA.
Jon did a stint at the US Army Hospital in Tehran, treating intelligence agents, and served in Seoul as a senior medical advisor to the South Korean Army in the 1950s. A few years later, Jon was back in Iran as senior medical advisor to the Shah and the Imperial Iranian Army and as command surgeon for the US Army mission. Shortly thereafter, the couple were sent stateside to tap Jon’s skills in hospital administration.
Throughout the 1960s, Jon served at the hospital at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, at McDonald Hospital at Fort Eustis in Virginia, under Gen. Matthew Ridgway, in the office of the Surgeon General, and at the Army’s Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. His final military assignment was as the commander of the hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Colonel Jon Evans retired from the Army in 1967 but was not quite ready to settle down. Jon and Dottie, with their two daughters married, now had the freedom to take on more interesting assignments. He wasted no time, signing a contract to work for CIA that same year.
Life at CIA:
Jon might have decided to join CIA’s ranks due to his longstanding ties to intelligence work. Looking back, he had been detailed to CIA in 1948, a year after the Agency had been established, and served for 18 months as an operational support officer, organizing first-aid courses and developing medical kits for use in the field. During this time, Jon met the Chief of Medical Services, Dr. John Tietjen, who was posthumously named among CIA’s first Trailblazers and likely made a positive impression on the military officer.
After officially welcoming Jon back into the fold in 1967, CIA immediately sent him to Bangkok as a regional medical officer, while Dottie worked there part-time as a nurse. Jon paid regular visits to Vientiane as medical advisor to the Chief of Station starting in 1968. The Ambassador to Thailand awarded him the Legion of Merit at the end of the year for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.” This prestigious United States Armed Forces honor is reserved for members of the US military or military and political figures of foreign governments.
One month later, Jon was summoned to Vientiane where he would be given more details about his support to operations. This was a routine practice for Jon, who had already earned praise for his willingness to travel on short notice. After all, this flight from Thailand to Vientiane usually took only 15 minutes.
His Last Mission:
On the evening of January 5, 1969, Jon and Dottie, his wife of 25 years, stood on the flight line awaiting the arrival of a CIA-contracted Beech Baron transport, call-sign “22 Charlie,” to pick them up for Jon’s latest mission.
At almost midnight, CIA’s team in Vientiane sent a flash cable to Bangkok. 22 Charlie was way overdue.
Eventually, wreckage was spotted eight miles south of Vientiane along the narrow road that paralleled the Laotian-Thai border. Given the location, the debris could have belonged to 22 Charlie. Within a few hours, another cable was flashed from Vientiane to Bangkok. Two Americans had been brought to the hospital in a sleepy provincial town on the Thai side of the Mekong River. The first, a woman (Mrs. Evans), was reported to be in critical condition. The second, a man (one of the pilots), was less seriously injured and conscious. The two had been aboard the fateful flight that had failed in its emergency landing.
The remains of Dr. Evans and 22 Charlie’s co-pilot were recovered and returned to the US. Jon had recently turned 55 years old.
Given the sensitivity of CIA activities in southeast Asia as well as the involvement of an Agency-contracted airplane, efforts were made to minimize publicity around the incident, and coverage in major newspapers was limited. Dr. Evans's sacrifice, however, was never forgotten, and is reflected by his inclusion on CIA's Memorial Wall in 2023.
Honoring His Service:
On May 23, 2023, CIA honored Jon Evans by adding the 140th star to the Agency’s Memorial Wall and placing his name in the Book of Honor. During the annual memorial ceremony, one of Jon’s daughters accepted a replica of the star from CIA Director William Burns.
A carved Memorial Star replica for the family of Dr. Jon Evans.
Also in attendance were some of Jon’s relatives, which made the occasion a solemn, yet warm, family reunion. Grandson Martin Cahn was just shy of four years old when Jon died and is now the editor of the Chronicle-Independent, a newspaper published in Camden, South Carolina. He wrote a column about his experience attending the memorial ceremony and touring CIA Headquarters titled “The 140th Star on the Wall,” in which he shared more about “Grandpa and Grandma Evans.”
Family members told their CIA hosts that Dorathea, until her death in 1999, never disclosed to them the Agency’s mission in southeast Asia. She kept her commitment to secrecy despite the tragedy and the passing of time. It is a reminder that family members of all CIA officers, past and present, always remain part of the CIA family.