Lt. Col. Lewis Lee HAWKINS

HAWKINS, WEBSTER, BALL, MYLANDER, DURAN, CROCKER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 3/17/2007 at 20:14:46

U.S. aide is slain in Iran

TEHERAN, Iran, June 2, 1973 -- A terrorist shot and killed an adviser to the United States military mission this morning as he was walking from his house to a street corner to be picked up by his driver, the American Embassy announced.

The victim was Lt. Col. Lewis Hawkins, 42, of Plymouth, Ind., 23 miles south of South Bend. He had served in Iran since last July. Iran government officials said the terrorist shot Hawkins two or three times in the head and fled on a motorcycle driven by another man. A servant told reporters he heard the shots and ran outside but retreated immediately when the gunmen threatened to shoot him, too. Then, the servant said, Hawkins' wife rushed out and almost collapsed when she saw her husband lying in a pool of blood. But she ran back into the house and fetched a blanket to cover the body until an ambulance and police arrived, he said.

HAWKINS is survived by his widow, Annett; three sons, Terry, 19; Ronald, 18; and Lee, 15; and his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hawkins of Rowan, Iowa.

The U. S. Embassy said Hawkins earned a bachelor's degree at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S. C., and a master's at Syracuse University in New York. He also was a graduate of the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kas. Iranian police installed police guards at American establishments, including three American schools, after today's assassination. Americans in Iran have been targets of Leftist guerrillas since 1970 when the terrorists launched their antiregime activities. So far, 118 terrorists have been executed by firing squads and an equal number killed in battles with police and security agents. Eight terrorists were executed Thursday.

In 1971 terrorists unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap U. S. Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II and his wife as they were driving home from a party. The same year, guerrillas wounded an American colonel by setting off a bomb under his car. As a result of anti-American guerrilla activities, American Ambassador Richard Helms goes to parties accompanied by a carload of police armed with submachine guns and pistols.

Chicago Tribune (IL)
June 03, 1973

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Lewis Lee Hawkins, the only son of Herman and Mary Webster Hawkins, was born in Chicago, Illinois on 8 August 1930. Herman and Mary would eventually move and raise their family in Plymouth, Indiana. Lewis was a star athlete at Plymouth High School, playing four years on the football and basketball teams and three years on the track team. After graduating from Plymouth High School with the Class of 1948, Lewis attended Clinton, South Carolina’s Presbyterian College on a basketball scholarship and enrolled in their Army Reserve Officer Training (ROTC) program. Lewis graduated from Presbyterian College with the Class of 1952 and received his commission in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. On 22 March 1953, Lewis married the former Barbara Ball at the First Methodist Church in Plymouth. After a short honeymoon, they moved to San Antonio, Texas where Lewis was stationed. From this marriage Lewis and Barbara had two sons, Terry and Ronald. Their marriage would end in 1962 when they divorced. Lewis married the former Annette Mylander on 4 April 1964, at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oak Harbor, Ohio. At the time of their marriage, Lewis was the Executive Officer at Fort Benjamin Harrison’s United States Army Finance Center. They would move on 16 June and head for Syracuse University where Lewis obtained his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Syracuse University’s Army Comptrollership Program. From this marriage Lewis and Annette had two children, son Lee and a daughter.

Besides Fort Sam Houston, Texas and Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana; other assignments include Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College. In the early 1970’s, Lewis was the Director of the Department of Finance at U.S. Army Finance School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. During this time period he was an active member of the Indianapolis chapter of the American Society of Military Comptrollers. Other assignments included Okinawa and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His final assignment came in July 1972 when he was attached to the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group to the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces in Tehran, Iran. Annette and Lee joined Lewis in Tehran where they lived in the Abass-Abad neighborhood. On the morning of 2 June 1973, as Lewis was walking from his home to a street corner to be picked up by his driver, two terrorists riding a motorcycle fired at point-blank range and fired two or three shots killing Lewis instantly.

Lewis was survived by his wife Annette; three sons, Terry, Ronald, and Lee; his parents, Herman and Mary Hawkins of Rowan, Iowa; and two sisters Mary Duran of Plymouth and Mona Crocker of Belmond, Iowa. His daughter preceded him in death. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Lee Hawkins, United States Army, was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana with full military honors on 18 June 1973. Among his awards and decorations is the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. On 5 June 1973, the Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Military Comptrollers established the LTC Lewis L. Hawkins Award. The award is presented to the outstanding graduate of the U.S. Army Finance Captains’ Career Course, as selected by their peers and the course director. This officer demonstrated the highest caliber of professionalism, leadership, devotion to duty, and selfless service, which were the standards of LTC Lewis L. Hawkins.

Source of information:
1. Plymouth Pilot-News (Plymouth, Indiana), 23 March 1953, page 3.

2. Plymouth Pilot-News (Plymouth, Indiana), 29 April 1964, page 2.

3. The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 June 1973, page 1.

4. Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, Pennsylvania), 3 June 1973, page 1.

5. Chicago Tribune, 3 June 1973, Section 1, page 3.

6. Times-News (Erie, Pennsylvania), 3 June 1973.

7. Stars and Stripes (European Edition), 3 June 1973, page 2B.

8. The Vidette-Messenger (Valpariso, Indiana), 4 June 1973, page 1.

9. The Vidette-Messenger (Valpariso, Indiana), 5 June 1973, page 7.

10. Plymouth Pilot-News (Plymouth, Indiana), 13 June 1973, page 1.

11. The Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), 17 June 1973, page A-3.

12. Photographs courtesy Annette Mylander Hawkins, wife of Lewis Hawkins.

13. National Archives and Records Administration. Southeast Asia, Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive, 1962-1979 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: [File from the U.S. Army] Casualty Information System [Archival Database]; Records of Deceased Army Personnel, Deceased Dependents of Active-Duty Army Personnel, and Active-Duty Wounded Army Personnel, 1/1/1961 - 12/1981' Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 407; National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland.

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