John Orville Lewis was born on 22 February 1922, Virginia, the son of Bert Ernest Lewis and Julia Ann Wells.
PFC Lewis entered the service on January 1, 1942 at Parris Island, South Carolina, went to Camp Pendleton, California, and served in the South Pacific Theatre. He was killed in action on New Georgia, Solomon Islands. He attended Raleigh County schools. Memorialized at Manila and at Ritchie Cemetery, Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Private First Class
U.S. Marines
The Battle of Bairoko was a battle between American and Imperial Japanese Army and Navy forces on 20 July 1943 during the New Georgia Campaign in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific War. In the battle, U.S. Marine Raiders—supported by two U.S. Army infantry battalions—attacked a Japanese garrison guarding the port of Bairoko on the Dragons Peninsula on New Georgia. The day-long assault on well-prepared Japanese defensive positions by the Americans was unsuccessful. After calling-off the assault, the Americans withdrew to nearby Enogai. The American forces remained in the Enogai area until the end of the New Georgia Campaign. The Japanese used Bairoko to resupply and reinforce their troops who were guarding an airfield at Munda Point on New Georgia. After the U.S. and its allies successfully captured the airfield, the Japanese evacuated New Georgia and abandoned Bairoko on 24 August.
Total American casualties were 49 killed, 200 wounded, and 10 missing, the vast majority of them suffered by the raider battalions. PFC Lewis is one of the missing.
Member of 4th Raider Battalion (Company N)
–Submitted by Edson Bellis, Marine Historian
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 22 February 1922
- Date of death: 20 July 1943
- County: Carter
- Service Branch: Marine Corps
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines
- Location In Memorial: Pillar VIII, Top Panel
- Sponsored by: Judy Daniel
