Former US Rep. Lane Evans, Veterans Advocate, Dies

Lane Evans served 24 years in the House from Western Illinois. He was a Marine who fought in the Vietnam war, and spent much of his congressional career fighting for veterans’ rights.

The Democrat died Wednesday at a nursing home in East Moline, Illinois, said his former congressional staffer, Michael Malmstrom, who also was one of Evans’ legal guardians. He was 63.

“In the early days of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Lane was one of the first members of Congress to take on issues like PTSD and TBI,” said Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America CEO Paul Rieckhoff, referring to the acronym for traumatic brain injury. “He helped put our issues on the map.”

Evans joined the Marines at age 17, and had orders for Vietnam. But he served in Okinawa, Japan, as a security guard because his older brother was already deployed in the war.

As a congressman, he fought for the rights of veterans and became the senior Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He pushed legislation to help those exposed to Agent Orange and to give former service members rights to judicial review in pursuing benefits claims.

He also campaigned for veterans grappling with post-traumatic stress disorders and other health problems, as well as those having trouble finding employment.

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