BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The family of 18-year-old Private First Class David Evans Jr. along with officials of the City of Buffalo are coming together this Memorial Day to honor Evans' bravery.
Evans was killed in 2003 in an explosion with other soldiers who were securing a facility in Iraq.
His mother, Esther Macklin, tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person it just hit her that it has been 20 years since her world changed forever.
“What a wonderful sacrifice he made. He was an awesome young man,” Macklin says. “He touched many people’s lives.”
Evans attended Kensington High School in Buffalo.
He joined the army to become an FBI agent.
Monday, his family received their son’s purple heart and Bronze star, and his mother received a Gold Star Pin.
“We had faith and believed, and twenty years later, it has come to perish,” says Evelyn Williams of PFC David Evans Jr’s cousin. “So we’re happy with the outcome of the rewards that are being presented here today. So that brings us closer to him.”
Others say this ceremony at this Buffalo Naval and Military Park is very special because it represents the African Americans who had typically been left behind or forgotten in their line of Duty.
“So when you have service members and families who memorize them on these particular days then it brings something to their hearts,” says Commander Howard Patton of Jesse Clipper Post 430. “And to their lives to know that their family member is appreciated for the ultimate sacrifice that they’ve made.”
PFC David Evans Jr.’s legacy will be entered into the Library of Congress.
A brick will be laid in his honor at the African American Veterans Monument.
“Thank you my son for your sacrifice,” Evans' mother says. “Thank you.”
