Lewis registered for the draft on 1 July 1941, at which time he worked as a moulder for the Vulcan Steel Works in Oakland, California. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 175 lbs with a light complexion and brown eyes and hair.
Lewis enlisted into the US Naval Reserve on 13 November 1942, being given the service number 3779303. He may have undertaken a training course at Iowa State College in Armes, possibly in electrics. He then joined the fleet, sailing from San Francisco in June 1943 onboard the transport ship USS Henderson.
USS Pensacola
Lewis joined the crew of his ship, USS Pensacola (CA-24) at Pearl Harbor in July. With the rank of Fireman 2nd Class he joined the team responsible for ensuring that the ship’s engines and their auxiliary machinery ran correctly.
Pensacola was a 14-year-old cruiser which had already seen a fair amount of combat. It had escorted the aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway and the invasion of the Solomons and had engaged the Japanese surface fleet during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942, during which she was hit by a torpedo and badly damaged with 125 killed.
After being out of action for a year, Pensacola sailed from Pearl Harbor on 8 November 1943 with Lewis onboard. Its task was to support the upcoming landings on the island of Tarawa. Pensacola fired some 600 shells to put coast defence guns out of action and destroyed enemy beach defences and numerous buildings. As troops stormed ashore on 20 November, Pensacola screened the carriers launching supporting airstrikes. That night, she fought off Japanese torpedo bombers. For the next two months, she ranged out of Ellice Islands to screen carriers covering the movement of reinforcements and supplies to the Gilbert Islands.
Lewis was promoted to Fireman 1st Class at the start of the year. On 29 January 1944, Pensacola began bombardments to destroy Japanese air power and shipping in the Marshall Islands. That night it helped bombard Taroa in the Eastern Marshalls before moving to hit runways, seaplane ramps, ammunition storage areas and buildings on Wotje. Pensacola continued pounding targets up until 18 February as ground forces advanced across and between the small islands.
On 26 February, Lewis transferred branches and became an Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class. He would have been responsible for wiring and repairing the ship’s electrical systems; operating and maintaining electrical motors, generators, and alternators; charging and maintaining batteries; and maintaining and repairing gyrocompass, fire control and other circuitry.
The next target for the Allied advance were the Caroline Islands, with Pensacola escorting the attacking aircraft carriers in March and April.
Move to the Northern Pacific
Pensacola sailed via Pearl Harbor and Mare Island for duty in the Northern Pacific, arriving in Kulak Bay at the end of May. On 13 June, the task force bombarded enemy positions on the airfields of Matsuwa, Kuriles and on 26 June destroyed shipping, airfields and installations at Kurabu Zaki, Paramushiru To, and Kuriles. Pensacola continued to patrol Alaskan waters until departing for Hawaii on 8 August.
Return to the South Pacific
Pensacola arrived back in the South Pacific in time to join an air-sea bombardment of Wake Island on 3 September. On 9 October, it pounded the main radio station and installations on Marcus Island.
Continuing to support the advance towards Japan, Pensacola escorted the carriers during the battles off the Philippines in October and bombarded Iwo Jima on the night of 11/12 November. After arriving at Saipan on 22 November Pensacola helped to down several Japanese bombers over the subsequent days, before then bombarding positions on Iwo Jima several more times over the next three months.
Pensacola had an eventful day on 16 February when one of its floatplanes shot down a Japanese fighter. The next morning the ship was damaged by six hits from Japanese shore batteries with 17 killed and 119 injured. Out of action for only three days, Pensacola commenced harassing and counter-battery fire in direct support of the invasion landings on 19 February and continued fire support through to 3 March.
On 25 March 1945 Pensacola bombarded enemy positions and covered the minesweepers preparing the way for the invasion of Okinawa, the ‘last steppingstone’ to Japan, before covering the landing forces on 1 April and continued to strike targets ashore until the 15th. It then sailed via Guam and Pearl Harbor for home and arrived at Mare Island in California on 7 May for overhaul.
It was at this time that Lewis probably left the crew. As an interesting sidenote, Pensacola was used in Operation Crossroads: the atomic bomb experiments at Bikini Atoll.
Ships
- USS Pensacola (1943-1945)
See also
