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01-06-2004, 12:13 PM
http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1073344208753
Hamilton native tackles new fight
Wounded with U.S. forces in Iraq
Felt he had duty to serve, family says
CARMELA FRAGOMENI
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Adrian Evans' fighting in Iraq and now his personal fight to overcome debilitating injuries are worlds away from his fighting days two decades ago at Hamilton's McGrory's Boxing Club in the east end.
The Hamilton native's military service with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq almost killed him two weeks ago, when a car bomb exploded as his convoy passed.
Pte. First Class Evans is awaiting surgery at a Washington, D.C. military hospital to remove a large piece of shrapnel from his left eye. He has other head and facial injuries and lost hearing in his left ear.
News of the explosion and his injuries in the Dec. 21 attack left his parents Jim and Jane Evans of Hamilton in shock and "terrified to think of what might have been," according to his mother.
Evans' job as a combat engineer was to deal with landmines, explosives and ****y traps. Although his mother knew it was very dangerous, she still didn't expect anything to happen to him.
She said it was a tough Christmas, which Evans spent in an American military hospital in Germany. "We're happy he survived it all, is home, and trying to get better."
Evans, the youngest of four children, had tried in his late teens to join the Canadian Armed Forces but his dyslexia disqualified him, said his eldest brother Jim, a detective with the Peterborough OPP.
"It hurt him deeply," says his other brother Lindsay. There is a long history of military service in the family, stretching back to World War I.
Evans had put ideas of military service behind him, and in the early 1990s, left Hamilton and followed his brother Lindsay to Hawaii to live. The Evans brothers were Hamilton boxers when they were younger, including a bout between Lindsay and Lennox Lewis in 1983.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Evans wanted to play a role in fighting terrorism. And so, at the age of 34 and having overcome his dyslexia, he enlisted in the U.S. army, much to the amazement of his brothers and parents.
"He felt he had a duty," says his mom Jane. "He had a good life in the U.S. and he wanted to give something back."
He signed up in late 2001 and attended training for combat engineer, graduated in 2002, then went to the airborne training centre to get his paratroop training.
"He's a natural born leader," said his brother Jim. "He's the type of guy who leads by example, and leads from the front. He certainly believes he's doing the right thing, and that the small role he was playing was going to make a difference."
HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Hamilton native tackles new fight
Wounded with U.S. forces in Iraq
Felt he had duty to serve, family says
CARMELA FRAGOMENI
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Adrian Evans' fighting in Iraq and now his personal fight to overcome debilitating injuries are worlds away from his fighting days two decades ago at Hamilton's McGrory's Boxing Club in the east end.
The Hamilton native's military service with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq almost killed him two weeks ago, when a car bomb exploded as his convoy passed.
Pte. First Class Evans is awaiting surgery at a Washington, D.C. military hospital to remove a large piece of shrapnel from his left eye. He has other head and facial injuries and lost hearing in his left ear.
News of the explosion and his injuries in the Dec. 21 attack left his parents Jim and Jane Evans of Hamilton in shock and "terrified to think of what might have been," according to his mother.
Evans' job as a combat engineer was to deal with landmines, explosives and ****y traps. Although his mother knew it was very dangerous, she still didn't expect anything to happen to him.
She said it was a tough Christmas, which Evans spent in an American military hospital in Germany. "We're happy he survived it all, is home, and trying to get better."
Evans, the youngest of four children, had tried in his late teens to join the Canadian Armed Forces but his dyslexia disqualified him, said his eldest brother Jim, a detective with the Peterborough OPP.
"It hurt him deeply," says his other brother Lindsay. There is a long history of military service in the family, stretching back to World War I.
Evans had put ideas of military service behind him, and in the early 1990s, left Hamilton and followed his brother Lindsay to Hawaii to live. The Evans brothers were Hamilton boxers when they were younger, including a bout between Lindsay and Lennox Lewis in 1983.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Evans wanted to play a role in fighting terrorism. And so, at the age of 34 and having overcome his dyslexia, he enlisted in the U.S. army, much to the amazement of his brothers and parents.
"He felt he had a duty," says his mom Jane. "He had a good life in the U.S. and he wanted to give something back."
He signed up in late 2001 and attended training for combat engineer, graduated in 2002, then went to the airborne training centre to get his paratroop training.
"He's a natural born leader," said his brother Jim. "He's the type of guy who leads by example, and leads from the front. He certainly believes he's doing the right thing, and that the small role he was playing was going to make a difference."
HAMILTON SPECTATOR