Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Major J. L. Evans, Parachute Regiment, who for a time was 2ic of the Omani Southern Regiment

General Service 1962, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (Capt., Para.); Oman, Peace Medal, unnamed, mounted as worn; together with a mounted pair of dress miniature medals, extremely fine (lot) £500-600

John Laurie Evans was born on 24 November 1934. Graduated with the degrees of B.Sc. and B.A. Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant on 27 April 1963; served in the R.A.E.C., November 1967; Lieutenant in the Parachute Regiment, October 1968; Captain, April 1969; Major, December 1974. GSO2 Army/Air Appts. H.Q. 38 Gp. R.A.F., January 1979.

In a letter in which he supplies some of his service details, Major Evans recalls:

‘Most of my service was with 2 Para - I had two staff jobs and was 2ic of Depot Para and CO of the Parachute Course Unit in Brize Norton. I had 3 years in Oman as 2ic of a Baluch Battalion - the Kateebat e Janoobia (KJ) it translates as ‘The Regiment of the South’ or the Southern Regiment. I was these for the end of the war (which reached its climax with Operation Hashish Marooh (Burning Grass)) and for the first rather troubled year of the peace that followed. The Southern Regiment served in the Dhofar Province.

When I resigned my commission I read theology at Oxford, was ordained in Wells Cathedral and for a few years served as an ACF Chaplain (RAChD) on the Isle of Man and in Oxfordshire. ...’ Signed John Evans.

Sold with the recipient’s service uniform: tunic, bearing Parachute Regiment badges and buttons; trousers; shirt bearing chaplain’s badges at the collar; khaki tie; and peaked cap; the recipient’s dress uniform: red jacket bearing Parachute Regiment badges; waistcoat; trousers; and black tie; the recipient’s beret with Parachute Regiment metal cap badge; rank shoulder tabs; other badges (7); together with recipient’s Chaplains uniform with medal ribbons and Parachute wings; a ‘Parachute Regiment Presentation of New Colours’ First Day Cover - the envelope signed by ‘J. G. Stirling’, the card inside signed ‘John L. Evans, The Parachute Regiment, 1963-1982.’ Also a hand-written letter (see above) from the recipient giving some service details and the book: The Paras, by Frank Hilton and a DVD on The Parachute Regiment.