"John's father, Frederick B Lewis, was born June 5, 1909 in Joliet and a lifetime resident until he and
his wife, Olive, moved to Silver Springs Shores, Florida in 1980. Frederick was a United States World War II Army Veteran serving in
the European and African Middle Eastern Theaters.
According to his record, it appears John enlisted in the Marine Corp Delayed Entry Program on 12 April 1966 in Chicago and entered on
active duty on 5 August 1966. After his training and probable assignments stateside, he was ordered overseas, arriving in Vietnam on October 15, 1967 where
he was assigned to G Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines.
At 1000 hours, LCPL Kenneth Earl Stetson, Longmont
Colorado, part of the Forward Observer
team from E Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines with G Company, was evacuated as WIA. His records show he "died 2115 hours at 3rd Medical
Battalion, Phu Bai, after being wounded by a gunshot wound to the body from hostile rifle fire while on an operation against a hostile
force sustained 1000 hours Thua Thien Province." The attachment to G Company was confirmed by a list of KIA/WIA maintained by David
Warner's Company Commander Colonel (Ret) Chuck Meadows (Read his story here). Visit the
Peace Trees Vietnam Project website.
A journal entry for later that morning reported:
At 1125 hours, 17 February 1968, G Company was on a search and destroy operation near grid coordinates YD774207 when they received
automatic weapons and small arms fire. They returned fire with their automatic weapons and small arms. They were to search area.
As a result of the contact,
the Marines lost one Killed in Action (KIA) and 2 wounded in action (WIA).
One squad member wounded was PFC Rudy Bustamante who was evacuated and recovered from his wounds.
Coffelt Database records show that
LCPL John Frederick Lewis, Joliet Illinois, died from his gunshot wounds.
CPL David Howard Warner, Mercer Island, Washington, was killed instantly from gunshot wounds to
the head and body.
- - The Virtual Wall
April 3, 2013
