Dedication Day:
May 23, 2023
Dr. Evans’s death would not be reflected on CIA’s Memorial Wall until May 23, 2023, when during CIA’s annual Memorial Day function, CIA Director Burns made public the names of five previous inductees to the Hall of Honor and introduced one new one, Dr. Jon Evans. Director Burns opened the dedication of the new star by saying,
Today, we dedicate the 140th Memorial Star to Dr. Jon Evans. This new star commemorates a life that was lost decades ago—but the passage of time neither lessens his sacrifice nor diminishes the debt we owe him and his family….
We are joined by one of his daughters and 13 members of Dr. Evans’s extended family, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren. On behalf of everyone at CIA, thank you for being here. We are immensely proud to count Jon as a member of our Agency family, and we will always be grateful for his heroic service to our country.
The Story: An Ill-fated Flight
On the evening of January 5, 1969, Dr. Jon Evans stood on the Air America operations flightline at the sprawling Royal Thai Air Force Base at Udon Thani awaiting the arrival of the CIA pouch run to Vientiane. At his side in the gathering dark was his wife of 25 years, Dorathea. A registered nurse, she worked parttime in the Bangkok medical unit where he was a regional medical officer (RMO). The couple had traveled to Udon Thani from Bangkok on the “50 Kip,” a shuttle flight that got its nickname from the Thai currency and the 50K at the end of its tail number. With the first leg of the journey behind them, they would board a second plane for the short hop across the Mekong River to the Laotian capital.
Download PDF to read the complete story. [6 pages]