Helicopter repairman Soldier Sam Lewis ’95 served as door gunner

Posted by Sam Fleury | Dec 13, 2022 | Minot AFB, Moberly, NAS Jacksonville, NAS Lemoore, NAS Whidbey Island, NASJRB Fort Worth, Nationwide, NB Guantanamo Bay, NS Everett/Marysville, NSB Kings Bay, Online Program, Orlando, Redstone Arsenal, Rolla, Salt Lake, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Springfield, St. Louis, USCG Honolulu, Whiteman AFB

Sam Lewis, Vietnam veteran and 1995 graduate of Columbia College-Redstone Arsenal. – Skip Vaughn, The Redstone Rocket

By Skip Vaughn – The Redstone Rocket

Sam Lewis was a dreamer as a boy. Born in Antigua, he would lie on his back in the grass and look up at the sky and dream of traveling to faraway places. He left Antigua at age 10 and went to St. Croix and then to St. Thomas.

The same wanderlust inspired Lewis, who is a 1995 graduate of the Columbia College-Redstone Arsenal location, to join the Army on Feb. 17, 1969. He retired in August 1989 as a sergeant first class after more than 20 years which included a year in Vietnam.

“Feb. 17, 1969. That was my enlistment day. That was a good day,” he said. “The Army guided and molded my life in ways that it would not have been without the military.”