Cadet Frank W. Lewis

The Tribune
Seymour, Indiana
Friday, January 8, 1943
Page 1

Cadet Frank W. Lewis Is Victim of Plane Crash

No Details Received on Air Tragedy

Frank W. Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey C. Lewis, 607 Indianapolis avenue, an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army, was killed instantly in an army airplane accident at Pecos, Texas, Thursday, according to word received late Thursday night by his mother.

No details of the crash are available. The message, wired by army officers at Pecos Air Base, to which Cadet Lewis had been sent only a few days before upon completion of primary pilot training at Fort Stockton, Tex., said only that he had been killed instantly in an airplane accident on January 7 at Pecos. Whether he was along or whether others were killed also is unknown and no press dispatches were received from Texas giving any information.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later.

Worked to Get Lessons.

Aviation Cadet Lewis had been interested in aviation for several years and had forty hours in the air when he enlisted and was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corps at Indianapolis last April 3. While still a student in Shields High School, he worked at night and on weekends at the EuDaly Grill, located at that time on North Chestnut street, to earn money to take flying lessons in his spare moments at the Seymour Municipal Airport, located southwest of the city at the site of the present Seymour Army airfield.

In the summer following his graduation from Shields High School in 1939, he made his first solo flight in an airplane at the local airport and continued his flying as much as possible.

He had been employed as an engineer's aide for the Calumet Paving Company on projects at Morgantown, Indianapolis and Lafayette and was working at Lafayette when he enlisted in the air corps.

Sent Diploma Home.

His first training after being called as a flying cadet was at Santa Ana, Calif., and on November 1, he was sent to Forty Stockton, Texas, where he completed his primary polot training. He was then transferred to the Pecos Air Base, Pecos, Texas, for advanced training. His mother had received his diploma from Fort Stockton by mail Thursday morning and had proudly exhibited it to friends as she opened the package in the post office fourteen hours before she received the message of his death.

News of the young flier's tragic death came as a shock to his many friends in Seymour. He possessed a pleasing personality that made him popular with young people and adults alike. He was a young man of good habits and possessed a kindly and considerate nature. He was a member of the First Methodist Church and attended the First Methodist Sunday School.

While in high school, Cadet Lewis was prominent as an athlete. He was a member of the Hiking Club during his Freshman and Sophomore years and of the football team during his Freshman, Junior and Senior years. He was a member of the track team during his Junior and Senior years and was a member of the Lettermen's Club during his Senior year.

Cadet Lewis was born in Seymour on November 4, 1921, the son of Harvey C. and Josephine Lewis, both of whom survive. Besides the parents, he is survived by a brother, Second Lieutenant Harvey C. Lewis, stationed with the U.S. Engineers at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., who will arrive here tonight, and the maternal grandmother, Mrs. Jane Fitzgibbon, of this city.

The Tribune
Seymour, Indiana
Wednesday, March 17, 1943
Page 5

Mother of Dead Cadet Gets His Wings

The wings of an army air pilot which would have been received by Aviation Cadet Frank W. Lewis, of this city, when he completed approximately five additional weeks of training, have been received by is mother, Mrs. Josephine Lewis, Indianapolis avenue.

Cadet Lewis was killed instantly in an army airplane crash near the Pecos Air Base, Pecos, Texas on January 7 as he was making his first flight from that base. His instructor also was killed. He had just graduated from Fort Stockton, Texas, after completing his primary flight training and was beginning his advanced training at the Pecos base.

The wings were enclosed with a letter sent to Mrs. Lewis by Fred C. Milner, Colonel, A.G.D., Air Adjutant General, Army Air Force Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

The letter states:"Lieutenant General H.H. Arnold, commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, has directed that the enclosed wings be presented to you in honor of Frank W. Lewis who gave his life in training to become a pilot in the Army Air Forces. This insignia would have been his badge of achievement on completion of his training.

"You can rightly share the pride which would have been his on receiving these wings. The Army Air Forces present them in honor of his memory."