Hubert "Bertie" Lewis (22 July 1920 – 21 December 2010) was a World War II RAF airman who went on to become a peace campaigner in the UK. Bertie Lewis became well known for his opposition to nuclear weapons and the wars in which his adopted and his native country were engaged.

Early life

Born Hubert Lewis on 22 July 1920 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, his childhood years were spent in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. At age 15 he ran away from home''Bolton News''
"Campaigner Bertie, 81, battles on," 8 July 2002
/ref> and travelled the country often on top of freight trains as was typical during the

Depression era The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Following the outbreak of World War II, while the United States remained a non-belligerent, he went to England and joined the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. He served in 102 Squadron of

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

flying 40 operations on Halifax bombers over Germany and France. After the war he married in

Bury, Lancashire Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the Historic counties of Englan ...

moved between there and the US several times before settling in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, Lancashire, in 1961.''Bolton News''
"American RAF man committed to English roots," 12 January 2007
/ref>

FBI and MI5 surveillance

During the

McCarthy era McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origina ...

, the FBI kept a constant watch on his movements due to his political views and compiled a large file on him.

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

collaborated with the FBI when he was living in the UK and kept him under surveillance. Subsequently, British authorities tried to prevent Lewis from returning to the UK but the

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

helped him retain his residency on the basis of his war service.

Political activism

In 1982 he was expelled by his local branch of the British Legion after he laid a wreath bearing the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

symbol at the Cenotaph in Bolton on

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

. Lewis said that by opposing nuclear weapons and campaigning for peace he was doing nothing more than following the spirit of the words carved on the base of the Cenotaph in Bolton which read "Our brothers died to win a better world. Our part must be to strive for truth, goodwill and peace that their self sacrifice be not in vain." The national British Legion later ordered his reinstatement following a public outcry and Lewis continued to lay a wreath, often including white poppies each year as part of the official Remembrance Day ceremony until his death in 2010.''Bolton News''
"Bertie was a warrior in the fight to stop more bloodshed," 13 January 2011
/ref> He was a member of Ex-Services CND and always took part in their August vigil in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing of

Hiroshima and Nagasaki The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

. For many years he held a weekly vigil on the town hall square of his home town of Bolton on issues of the day regarding war and peace and social justice. He was also a member of Bolton Socialist Club which opened in 1905 and is the oldest remaining independent socialist club in the UK. He attended many protests during his life including the famous 1968 demonstration against the Vietnam War that ended in violence outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. During the visit of President Ronald Reagan to London in 1984 Lewis managed to take his message inside the U.S. Embassy while thousands protested outside against the deployment of American

cruise missiles A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead ...

on British soil. Lewis also joined the one-million-strong Stop the War demonstration in London in February 2003 just before the invasion of Iraq. At age 89 he was the oldest member of the group

Military Families Against the War Military Families Against the War (MFAW) is an organisation of families of servicemen in the United Kingdom created to campaign for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. The group's mission statement sets out their objectives as follows: A ...

delivering a petition to

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

calling for British servicemen and women to be brought home from Afghanistan. His last demonstration in London was in May 2010 against the Israeli attack on the

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...

bringing supplies to the stricken people of Gaza. In 1990 he was involved in a scuffle with another guest on the TV show UpFront whilst discussing the war in the Balkans. In 2010 aged 90 there was controversy after he was knocked down by riot police at a demo against the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...

. Lewis died on 21 December 2010 following a hip replacement operation in the

Royal Bolton Hospital The Royal Bolton Hospital is an acute general hospital in Farnworth, Greater Manchester. It is managed by the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was established as a fever hospital and built adjacent to the 'Fishpool Workhouse' in ...

. A flagstone laid as a lasting tribute to Bertie was unveiled by the mayor of Bolton on 1 August 2015. At the ceremony Lewis was described as "a true internationalist who made his home in our town". The plaque reads "Bertie Lewis – Fighter for Peace and Social Justice". ''Bolton News''
"Flagstone laid in lasting tribute to passionate peace campaigner and true Bolton character" 2 August 2015
/ref>

Personal life

Lewis married his first wife, Britain-born Mary Crausby, in 1945 and had three children Edward, Denzil, and John. From his first marriage he also had six grandchildren, Alan, Garry, Ady, Mark, Lindsey and Jodie. He also had six great-grandchildren, Abigail, Jack, Dylan, Georgia, Robin, Ava and Max. He married Austria-born Amalia Toth in 1961 and had two more boys Roger and David. Butch Lewis

Notes

External links