Hubert "Bertie" Lewis (22 July 1920 – 21 December 2010) was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, his childhood years were spent in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Following the outbreak of World War II, while the United States remained a non-belligerent, he went to England and joined the RAF. 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 the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

moved between there and the US several times before settling in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, 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 a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

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

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

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. Membership Service in th ...

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 Nucl ...

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 image:Anzac poppies.JPG, Artificial poppies placed as Anzac Day tributes on a cenotaph in New Zealand; mostly ''Papaver rhoeas'' marketed by the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association, with a lone White Poppy The white poppy is a flo ...

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 On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

. 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 an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

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, during the Iraq War. It was partly founded by Rose Gentle. Later the gro ...

delivering a petition to

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

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 cla ...

bringing supplies to the stricken people of

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

. 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) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

. 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, Bolton, 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 Work ...

. 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