According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Evans was working with the US ambassador to Belgium, Ronald Gidwitz, along with American Battle Monuments Commission officials to plan the activities, including a luminary at the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Hamm.  

The Battle of the Bulge lasted was the last German offensive on the western front, lasting from 16 December 1944 through 25 January 1945. Even General George S. Patton, who is now buried in Luxembourg, was shocked at the level of determination by the Germans. 

It was Patton’s third army, 4th armoured division, that reached Bastogne, thereby carving out a corridor to relieve the forces. Patton called the move his “biggest battle” and “the outstanding achievement of the war”.