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Personal info

Full name
LEWIS, John Earl
Date of birth
unknown
Age
unknown
Place of birth
unknown
Hometown
Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
T-192076
Rank
Flight Officer
Function
Pilot
Unit
63rd Fighter Squadron,
56th Fighter Group
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
23 December 1944
Place of death
2 km south of Queekenberg, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
M 3 16

Immediate family

Members
John B. Lewis (father)
Alice T. Lewis (wife)
Timothy J. Lewis (son)

Plane data

Serial number
44-19911
Data
Type: P-47D
Destionation: Koblenz, Germany
Mission: Bomber escort
MACR: 11306

More information

F/O John E. Lewis was assigned to the 56th FG in November 1944.

Eyewitness:
"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. He was being chased by a FW109."
F/O Lewis was such a warrior that he went to Canada to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940. Once the USA had joined the war, he transferred to the US Army Air Force from where he flew an untold number of missions until he was first declared MIA in December 1944.

Source of information: Michel Beckers, Nigel Julian, Timothy J. Lewis (son), www.56thfightergroup.co.uk, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.56thfightergroup.co.uk