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 dies, 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 possible loss of life.
He led troops in server fighting at Anzio beachhead, participated in the Anzio breakthrough 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.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Tuesday, January 02, 1945, Page 8 (photo included)
80 Kossuth Men Officially Listed As Casualties In War
FIRST RELEASE OF STATE HISTORICAL DEATH SUMMARIES
Eighty men from Kossuth county lost their lives while in the service of their country in World War II.
WAR DEAD.
Lewis, Virgil, Lt. Col.
Lakota, Ia.
Wife: Mrs. Dorothy Lewis, West Branch, Ia.
Father: Frank Lewis, Lakota, Ia.
Source: The Algona Upper DesMoines, Tuesday, January 22, 1946 – page 7.
Virgil Lee Lewis was born Mar. 22, 1906 to Franklin Thomas and Elizabeth Mary Jones Lewis. He died June 28, 1944 and is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery, Lakota, IA.
Lt. Col. Lewis served in World War II with the U.S. Army 168th Infantry, 34th Division.
Sources: ancestry.com
