Lt. Col. Virgil Lee LEWIS

LEWIS, RATE, HASSEBRACK, BROCK, WEISS, LAUGHTON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/16/2015 at 14:38:27

March 22, 1906 --- June 28, 1944

Lt. Col. Virgil Lewis Killed in Italy Drive

Word readied Waterloo friends and relatives Thursday that Lt. Col. Virgil L. Lewis, 38, former Courier reporter, had been killed in action June 28 on the Italian battlefront, where at last reports he was commanding a column of American infantrymen.

Colonel Lewis, resident here from 1930 to 1937, had been overseas only a short time before leading units in their drive on Rome. No details of his death were relayed by the war department to his wife, Dorothy, not father, Frank Lewis, Lakota, Iowa.

A 1930 graduate of University of Iowa, where he was editor of the Daily Iowan, Lewis joined the Courier news staff and was here as courthouse reporter until April, 1937, when he joined the Associated Press bureau at Denver, Colo. One of the big stories here was coverage of the hanging of Reginald Tracy, Manchester, Iowa., wife murderer.

Colonel Lewis was called to active army duty in June 1941, while at Denver and was promoted from captain to major that year. He advanced to lieutenant colonel last winter before going overseas.

His widow and 7-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Ann, Thursday were reported in Denver, where Mrs. Lewis was looking after business matters when she received word of the colonel's death.

Born Mar. 22, 1906, at Eagle Grove, Ia., Virgil L. Lewis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lewis. The family later moved to a farm near Lakota and he attended schools there before going to the state university. He was married in 1931 to Miss Dorothy Rate, of Iowa City, Ia. Here he served as Junior Chamber of Commerce president.

Surviving him are his widow and daughter, now residing with Mrs. Lewis' parents at West Branch, Ia.; his father, at Lakota; three brothers, Hugh, Howard and Lawrence, of Lakota; and two sisters, Mrs. Fern Hassebrack, Des Moines, and Mrs. Mary Jane Brock, Ledyard, Ia. The mother died at Lakota in 1935. Word of his death reached Waterloo Thursday in a telephone call from the father to a cousin, Mrs. Norman Weiss, Ft. Dodge, Ia., visiting Mrs. A. E. Laughton, 158 Argyle Street.

Waterloo Daily Courier -- Waterloo, Iowa
July 20, 1944

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Waterloo Daily Courier -- Waterloo, Iowa
January 2, 1945

Memorial Rites for Colonel Lewis

Services at Lakota, Ia., for Former Waterloo Man.

Memorial services for Lt. Col. Virgil Lee Lewis, former Waterloo Daily Courier reporter, who was killed in action June 28, 1944, at Monteverdi, Italy, were conducted Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church in Lakota, Ia., his former home.

Selecting two biblical passages as his text, Rev. E. H. Buschman, pastor, delivered the sermon and quoted his first text from Job 14:14, "If a man die, shall he live again? All the "days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Reverend Buschman continued his text, reading from St. John 11-25 and 26.

A male quartet sang "Saved by Grace" and "Beyond the Sunset" and a mixed quartet was heard in the number, "Rest Soldier Rest." Following the placing of a Gold Star in memoriam, George Heetland presented the United States flag in behalf of American Legion post, No. 652.

Colonel Lewis, who was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart and a citation for bravery from the president of the United States, was cited for having completed all military missions successfully with least loss of life. He led troops in severe fighting at Anzio beachhead, participated in the Anzio break-through offensive, and led in the drive on Rome. He was killed while in action at Monteverdi, following the capture of Rome and the advance into northern Italy.

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[Burial -- Maple Hill Cemetery, Lakota, Iowa]