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Street renamed in honor of Cannon fallen hero

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jette Carr
  • 27th Special Operations Wing
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  A ceremony was held at the firehouse here April 8 to rename Argentia Avenue to Kermit Evans Avenue in honor of one of Cannon's own, Captain Kermit Evans, former Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight commander, 27th Civil Engineer Squadron.

Captain Evans was killed in action during a deployment in Iraq on December 3, 2006 in a helicopter crash.

Captain Evan's untimely death was felt by many people, from loved-ones and friends to his extended Air Force family. The firehouse was filled with a mixture of service members and civilians who had come together to pay tribute to him.

His most immediate family in attendance at the ceremony was his wife Perneatha Evans, young son Kermit Evans Jr. and his parents.

"Kermit was always fearless and did everything to the best of his abilities," said his mother, Mrs. Margaret Evans. "For instance, he was somewhat thin and lanky growing up and in college he decided he wanted to be on the football team. I was worried about him, but he was determined. He ended up as the quarterback for Mississippi State University."

The Evans family was appreciative of the ceremony and said it brought back fond memories of him.

"The ceremony was our way of making sure that the Evans family, and all families of our Airmen, know that the Air Force looks after its heroes," said Lt. Col. Daniel Guinan, 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron commander. "The location of Kermit Evans Avenue right outside of our compound will remind us that our unit and our Air Force are built on the shoulders of giants."

Captain Evans had been deployed twice. On his last deployment he stood as the operations officer for a new unit with the first ever Air Force weapons intelligence team in Iraq. Their job was to go outside the wire and find improvised explosive devices, gather up whatever components and biometric data they could, bring it back to base to analyze, and write intelligence reports to send out in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Captain Evans was a mediator and could reach all the Airmen and Soldiers in his team, earning their trust and respect based on his professionalism, his dedication to duty, sound judgment, and probably most importantly his sense of humor, said Lt. Col. Craig Perry, Captain Evan's deployed commander.

"Kermit was hilarious!" said Colonel Perry. "And one of the best qualities he had was a self deprecating sense of humor. He never took himself too seriously. He had the ability, because of his enthusiasm and his dedication to our Airmen and Soldiers, to make them want to follow him wherever he led."

As the operations officer, he would stay behind while Colonel Perry visited the servicemembers he was in charge of. Captain Evans' day-to-day duties were running operations, making sure the reports were done on time and making sure his troops were safe.

"He adapted well to the office environment, but he hated it," said Colonel Perry. "What he wanted was to be out with the Airmen, with the Soldiers. That's where he belonged."

After Colonel Perry was done visiting the servicemembers under his command, he set Captain Evans free from his desk.

"Eager to be in the field, Captain Evans did 70 missions in his time out of the office," said Colonel Perry. "He went out every chance he could to make sure that the teams had everything they needed and their jobs were getting done right."

He was visiting one of those teams when a soldier on their team was killed by and IED. Being their operations officer, he knew he had to catch the first flight back to Baghdad so he could regroup the team and do whatever else had to be done. He changed his flight plans to an earlier helicopter. The helicopter he was flying had an in-flight emergency and were forced to make a water landing.

Of the sixteen people onboard, twelve survived. Captain Kermit was one of the four servicemembers who died in the accident.

For his efforts and sacrifice, Kermit was honored posthumously with the Bronze Star.

"Everyone who knew him felt his presence, and misses him still," said Colonel Perry. "He was my mentor, even though I was his boss. When things got tough he had great advice and the best advice he gave me is something I still carry with me to this day. He said 'You have to trust your people. Let them do their job. They know what they are doing. Let them do their job and they'll amaze you.' He was right"

"He trusted his people. He empowered his people, and they amazed him," he said.

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