WW2 Fallen - SB2C Helldiver pilot Ross Lewis + Newscaster David Brinkley

Lt. (jg) Ross Lewis was a SB2C Helldiver pilot in VB-20.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98812069/ross-lewis
https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=265

Edgar Ross Lewis, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

  

Ross was born on July 10, 1920 in Seagoville, Texas. His parents Edgar and Edna were also both born in Texas. His father worked as a farmer and later as a postman. Edgar had three older sisters. By 1940 Edgar was still living at home and had completed two years of college.

He enlisted in the US Navy in April 1942 and qualified to become a flyer. He reached the rank of lieutenant, junior grade, and flew the SBD-5 Dauntless and later the SB2C Helldiver in VB-20. It was part of Carrier Air Group 20. In the spring of 1944, VB-20 was in training in Hawaii prior to be assigned to a carrier.

On May 2, 1944, Lt. Lewis was in his plane on the runway when a plane behind him took off and struck him. He was unconscious when removed from his plane. He was taken to the hospital and never regained consciousness. He died on May 9, 1944.

His grave is at Lee Cemetery in Seagoville, Texas.

Thank you Lt. Lewis for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Edgar.

DAVID BRINKLEY / OWEN CHAMBERLAIN

Two other men were born on the exact same date as Edgar Ross who went on to illustrious careers. David Brinkley was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. Owen Chamberlain was born in San Francisco, California. Both served their country during the war. In Brinkley's case after completing college he joined the US Army in 1940 and served until given a medical discharge. He was a news correspondent in Washington DC during most of the war. Chamberlain was a physics student prior to the war and he was selected to help develop the atomic bomb for the Manhattan Project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brinkley
https://history.aip.org/phn/11502025.html

Brinkley became one of the best known newsmen in the second half of the twentieth century. Chamberlain earned the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics. Brinkley died in 2003. Chamberlain died in 2006.

This is one of the final 100 stories (55) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled Saipan fallen and Bronze Star hero Arnold Richards, 4th Marine Division. You can read about Arnold here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org