Flight Officer John Earl Lewis (T-192076) was born and lived in Chicago, Illinois. He was such a warrior that he went to Canada from his home in Chicago to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940. Once the USA had joined the war, he transferred to the US Army Air Force flying missions over Europe out of Boxted Army Air Field AAF-150.

Royal Air Force Boxted (AAF-150) was located 4 miles north-northeast of Colchester, Essex, England. It was the home base of the 56th Fighter Group (61st, 62nd, 63rd Fighter Squadrons) of the Eighth Air Force. Flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the 56th FG was the most successful of the Eighth Air Force groups in air-to-air combat. It engaged in counter-air and interdictory missions during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Supported Allied forces for the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 to January 1945. Helped to defend the Remagen bridgehead against air attacks in March 1945. The 56th Fighter Group occupied AAF-150 from April 19, 1944 to September 15, 1945.

On December 23, 1944, flying P-47D-28 Thunderbolt 44-19911, F/O Lewis departed AAF-150 with a flight of P-47s of the 63rd FS on a bomber escort and fighter sweep mission to the vicinity of Koblenz, Germany, 310 miles southeast of AAF-150.

He was last seen diving into clouds being chased by a Luftwaffe Fw 109. An eyewitness reported: "F/O John E. Lewis was last seen by me just as we were in our first bounce. I looked for him several times during the encounter but could not find him. This was about 10 miles south of Euskirchen airdrome, northwest of Koblenz.” MACR 11306

On December 23, 1944 at 1145 hours, F/O John E. Lewis was shot down by enemy aircraft and killed one mile south of Queckenberg and 3 miles southwest of Rheinbach, Germany.

F/O Lewis was initially buried in the cemetery of nearby Flamersheim, three miles northeast of the crash site. His final resting place is in the Netherlands American Cemetery, Plot M, Row 3, Grave 16 in the village of Margraten, Netherlands. The cemetery contains the graves of 8,288 American war dead and is the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands. The walls on either side of the Court of Honor contain the Tablets of the Missing on which are recorded the names of 1,722 American missing servicemen.

He was awarded the Purple Heart.

This story is part of the

Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a

national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US

WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these

stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war

memorial or cemetery.

SBTSProject/Illinois

If you noticed anything

erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it,

please contact me at roktscientist@hotmail.com.

Sources:

1. 1940 Federal Census

2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56301023/john-e-lewis

3. https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/missing-aircrew-reports/macr-11306-44-19911.cfm

4. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/john-earl-lewis

5. https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=182537

6. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/lewis%3Djohn-21

7. https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/56th_Fighter_Group.cfm

8. http://www.56thfightergroup.co.uk/

9. http://www.56thfightergroup.co.uk/personnel.htm

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/63rd_Fighter_Squadron

11. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/unit/63rd-fighter-squadron

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_P-47_Thunderbolt

13. Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.

14. “Zemke’s Wolfpack: A Photographic Odyssey of the 56th Fighter Group during World War II,” Peter Randall and Nigel Julian, Fighting High Limited, 2015.

Photo Credits:

1. findagrave.com, wingstracksguns.com, wikipedia.com

John E Lewis