R.I.P. Spc. Joseph M. Lewis

Name: Army Spc. Joseph M. Lewis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: 26

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Terrell, Texas,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assigned to the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Incident: Army Spc. Joseph M. Lewis died Nov. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Died: November 17, 2009

(Taken from www.star-telegram.com of Nov. 26) Joe Lewis wanted to be a soldier from about the fourth grade. Back then, "Joey" and his friends often filled their Super Soaker water guns and fought one another in the Bedford streets.

His restless energy often got in the way of more serious matters, such as studying at L.D. Bell High School, relatives said.

"I told a principal, I know he’s not going to be the next pope, but if he becomes a stand-up comedian or a senator, I’ll be happy," his mother, Pam Lewis of Terrell, said Wednesday.

In 2005, Mr. Lewis joined the Army, proudly serving as a cavalry scout and spending much of the past four years overseas. He was sent to Afghanistan in July.

Many of his friends called him "GI Joe."

Spc. Lewis was killed Nov. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device. He was 26.

Joseph Michael Lewis was born Sept. 25, 1983, in Dallas. He grew up in Northeast Tarrant County and attended L.D. Bell High in Hurst.

His parents are originally from Terrell, east of Dallas, and when he was 18, the family moved back there.

He drove a red 1994 Pontiac Trans Am as a young man. At some point, Mr. Lewis traded it in for a 2004 Trans Am. Then in 2008, he got married. When he learned that his wife, Teresa, was expecting a baby, he replaced the sports car with something more practical — a Chevrolet Tahoe, relatives said.

He completed basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., and was stationed at Camp Casey in South Korea for a year and a half before his Afghanistan assignment.

An Army specialist, Lewis was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash. He was serving in the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, on the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Spc. Lewis believed in the Army’s Afghanistan mission, his mother said.

"He experienced a lot of really grateful people," she said. "He told me he had recently met with some village elders. He had had tea with them, and the village elders gave them fruit and figs. It was an honor for him to be with these village higher-ups. He said it was really awesome."

Spc. Lewis’ body was flown to Greenville on Wednesday and was escorted by the North Texas Patriot Guard Riders to Anderson-Clayton Bros. Funeral Home in Terrell. The motorcycle riders often escort soldiers’ families during funeral processions.

He is the fifth person from Terrell — a city of about 15,750 — killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2004. He is also the second Terrell soldier killed in Afghanistan in two months.

Other survivors include his infant daughter, Abiageal Lewis; his father, Mike Lewis; a sister, Amanda Lewis Rodriguez of Fort Worth; and grandparents, Carl and Betty Baker, and Barbara Hall, all of Terrell.