Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"...417089 Flying Officer John Walsh Lewis RAAF, atttached to No 14 Squadron RAF. FO Walsh of Adelaide, SA, was killed in action during an anti-submarine patrol flying a B26 Marauder off the coast of Spain on 29 March 1944. He was aged 22 years. The bodies of Lewis and his fellow Australian crewmembers, FO W MacDonald, Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) S C Peedom, Flt Sgt S R Lanham, Flt Sgt S F Lamond and Flt Sgt S M Woods were recovered and buried in the cemetery at Mataro near Barcelona." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

Marauder B117780 of 14 Squadron RAF crashed in the Mediterranean Sea close to the town of Mataro on the Spanish coast while on an armed reconnaissance in the region of Bonafacio (Corsica) - Marseilles - Barcelona

The bodies of 5 of the crewmen were recovered by Spanish authorities and buried in the Mataro Roman Catholic Cemetery but that of FSGT Lamond was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Malta Memorial

LAMOND, Frank Raymond (Flight Sergeant) 410349

LANHAM, Ronald (Flight Sergeant) 421990

LEWIS, John Walsh (Flying Officer) 417089

McDONALD, William Cameron (Flying Officer) 4505

PEEDOM, Charles Manning (Flight Sergeant) 421620

WOODS, Michael Thomas (Flight Sergeant) 421840

Son of Henry Aloysius Lewis and Florence Catherine Lewis, of Toorak Gardens, South Australia

Flying-Officer J. W. Lewis
"That Flying-Officer John Walsh Lewis carried with him to his death off the Spanish Mediterranean Coast on March 29 the Christian and knightly character of the two families whose name he bore—that would have, been the first thought to lighten the grief that oppressed his relatives and his many friends when news came that he had paid in full the  sacrifice of his service to God and his country. Frank and fine in the splendid boyhood of him, the sturdy Catholic faith and generous charity of him, he went far to present the  ideal of Christian chivalry in the ideal home life that was his, among his fellow students at Rostrevor College, and in the business world upon which he had entered before his  enlistment in the R.A.A.F. As airman he was all these things during his training period in Canada and the United States and his period of service in the North African theatre of operations. On March 29 death came to him and the Australian crew of a Marauder air craft lost off the Spanish port of Metaro. He was 22 years of age. John Lewis was the only  son of Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Lewis, Grand View Grove, Toorak Gardens. He went to Loreto Convent school for his preparatory education, and subse quently to Christian Brothers'  College, Rostrevor, of which he was one of the most popular and outstanding alumni. At the College, staff and students assisted at Requiem Mass in the College Chapel when word of his death was received. Prior to join ing the Air Force, he was attached to the noted land and business firm of Elder, Smith & Co., Limited. To his honored and bereaved parents  and people sympathy is here respectfully extended. May his soul rest in peace eternal.