John Adrian Lewis sergeant-pilot killed 1940

[guest259648]

Seeking photo of John Adrian Lewis (known as Jack), 1912 - April 1940. RAF pilot, 223 squadron. Born Birkenhead, married in Grantham March 1940 to Evelyn Ward. His parents John Lewis + Margaret (nee Williams) lived at Abbey Mount Llantysilio Denbighshire 1930s - 1972. He played for Grantham Town FC in 1936 (Hospital/Charity Cup v Doncaster Rovers). Commemorated on Llangollen Memorial. But what does he look like? Need archive newspaper photo/football team photo. Grateful for any suggestions. Thank you :-)

[anne_p]

Death announcement appears in The Grantham Journal dated 12 Apr 1940.
Sadly there is no photo.
Ive also looked at various  newspaper articles re Grantham Town FC but can find no menton of him.

Many of their players  circa 1934-1936 seem to be local volunteers who played only occasionally

[taffie01]

hello Dulciebun and welcome to rootschat.

have you tried the football club? it is just possible they may have some photographic records of that match team and possibly some info on John.

[guest259648]

Thanks a lot anne_p, taffie 01, appreciated. Good suggestions. I can't (yet) find a member of the Grantham football club who knows anything about archive shots. There was a photographer at the cup presentation in 1936 and both teams were present, but the paper chose to print a pic of the dignitaries, not the players. Maybe I need a football historian? (Where do you find one?) Also: do you know if the RAF holds class photos of personnel at their graduations etc? (There are no photos in the individuals' own records.) If so, where to look?

[nanny jan]

Have you searched the Internet for an archivist for 223 Squadron?   There's a slight chance that there might be a photograph.


Nanny Jan

[guest259648]

Good thought, Nanny Jan - I spent an hour looking, and found some associations which have info. on the squadrons, but it's general time-line stuff, and no personal photos or working archivists. I did find a website dedicated to collecting & posting uniformed photographs of those who died in Normandy, with photos of the original graves and markers... what a brilliant idea... in my opinion the faces of the fallen are just as important as their names; we need more sites like this one. Still no photo of John Adrian Lewis. Any further ideas, please?

[nanny jan]

Have you researched his wider family; cousins etc. ?

[Flattybasher9]

Can I take it that you have already seen this

http://www.llangollenmuseum.org.uk/english/Memorials/LlantysilioWW2/JohnLewis/Summary.htm

Regards

Malky

[guest259648]

Yes Nanny Jan, I have drawn up a family tree 3 generations back and 3 forward. There are some living family members. Maybe you can advise on this, about how best to handle it: when I've approached people in the past I've been successful in getting facts, and details - but if you ask for photos there is often a lot of suspicion about what you're going to do with them. I'm always polite, and carefully explain, but I've had a few difficult experiences re photos, and this is why I'm trying to find one another way.