At just 19 years old, Lewis May left his job at Virginia Metal Products in Orange, VA, after the Army drafted him for World War II. He trained at Fort Lee, Virginia, and then sailed to Europe on the Queen Mary. Once he landed on Omaha Beach, he joined his battalion in Antwerp, Belgium. Their mission was to control and stock Army supply lines at the critical port.
In Antwerp, Lewis’s battalion faced continuous German attacks with V-1 and V-2 buzz bombs, similar to the SCUD missiles of the 1990s. The distinctive sound of the bomb engines meant soldiers were safe, but the silence signaled trouble. “If you heard their engines, you knew you were alright,” Lewis recalls. “It was when you didn’t hear them that you knew you were in trouble.”
Despite the bombings, the civilian casualties were much higher than military losses. “The high number of civilian deaths made it even more horrific,” Lewis shared. His battalion endured a seven-month siege as bombs rained down.
One of the closest calls occurred when Lewis skipped a trip to the movies. The theater was hit, killing over 200 people, including seven of his battalion friends. “Any other day, I would have been there,” Lewis reflected.
The intense bombardment affected Lewis deeply. “When I came back, I was a nervous wreck,” he admits. He hadn’t realized the true danger until after he returned home.
Later, the Army called him up as a reserve during the Korean War. But instead of serving in combat, Lewis entertained troops on the baseball circuit along the East Coast. Afterward, he declined a baseball offer from the University of Virginia and returned to Virginia Metal Products. He worked there for 32 years, with 10 years as general manager, before retiring in 1980.
On September 21, 2017, Lewis May received the Hometown Hero award from Branch Manager Greg Dudley at the Orange American Legion Post 156. His service, sacrifice, and community dedication inspire everyone around him.
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