Lane Evans | Legislator, veteran, 63

Former Illinois Rep. Lane Evans, 63, a Vietnam War-era Marine who fought for veterans' rights during his 24 years in the U.S. House, died Wednesday in East Moline, Ill., after a long fight with Parkinson's disease.

"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 stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. "He helped put our issues on the map."

Mr. 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, Mr. Evans 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 was first elected from his western Illinois district in 1982, when he was a 31-year-old attorney, and went on to serve 12 terms.

He worked for more than a decade after his Parkinson's diagnosis, but announced in 2006 that he wouldn't seek reelection because of deteriorating health. - AP