Tributes are paid to Shropshire Military Cross hero
A war hero who was awarded a Military Cross while serving with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry has died at the age of 92.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Evans, of Eyton, between Ludlow and Leominster, received the award after serving in Italy in 1944.
In February 1944 he was in the Anzio beachhead serving for the 1st Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry (1 KSLI) when they became under relentless shelling from German soldiers.
Mr Evans was sent forward in darkness and pouring rain with orders to contact them, and by morning they were ready to face the enemy again.
The citation for the award of the Military Cross paid tribute to Evans' courage, cheerfulness and determination.
Mr Evans was born in Eyton on January 15, 1920 and educated at Stowe and Worcester College, Oxford, where he read agriculture.
He married Marian Cuff in 1965 and died peacefully in hospital on November 12 last year. After the outbreak of War, he was commissioned into the KSLI in November 1940.
He saw active service with the 1st Battalion throughout the war, first as part of the First Army in North Africa and then during the diversionary attack on the island of Pantelleria, the assault landing at Anzio and the series of fierce battles which followed.
During the latter part of the campaign in Italy he commanded A Company 1 KSLI and saw further action during the major battles in the Monte Grande and Monte Cenere sectors.
After the War he was engaged in a challenging operational tour of duty in Palestine, followed by deployment to the Sudan.
He rejoined 1 KSLI, stationed in Hong Kong in 1951, and went on to see active service with the battalion in Korea.
A spell with 4 KSLI as training major was followed by a move back to 1 KSLI during the Mau Mau campaign in Kenya. He retired from the army three years later.
In retirement he farmed in Herefordshire and bred Holsteins for many years. For 25 years he served as a JP in Leominster.
