Harry Lew (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Liào Zǐyuán; March 31, 1990 – April 3, 2011) was a

Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

in the

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

s who committed suicide at Patrol Base Gowragi in Afghanistan, allegedly after being hazed by his fellow Marines. After investigation, three Marines stationed with Lew in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, including his sergeant, were charged with hazing. Two were acquitted in

courts-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. The third pled guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to limited punishment. Lew was a nephew of

Congresswoman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Judy Chu Judy May Chu (born July 7, 1953) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she has held a seat in Congress since 2009, representing until redistricting. ...

(D-CA); she has introduced a bill to prohibit hazing in the military, as the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

does not track it, and not all services have policies about it.

Background

Harry Lew was born in 1990 in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

as the second child to Allen Lew (廖厚達) and Sandy Chu (趙美春), both originally from China. Lew did

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

as a hobby, having taken up

tricking Tricking is a method for indicating the tinctures (colours) used in a coat of arms by means of text abbreviations written directly on the illustration. Tricking and hatching are the two primary methods employed in the system of heraldry to show c ...

in high school and also practising

wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport) Wushu () (), or kung fu, is a competitive Chinese martial art. It integrates concepts and forms from various traditional and modern ...

. He graduated from Santa Clara High School in 2008. Before enlisting in the marines, Lew had studied two semesters at Mission College.

Career

Lew enlisted in the Marines in 2009, intending to earn money to pay his

college tuition Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

. He completed training at

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

near

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in February 2010 and was sent to serve in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

in November 2010 in his first combat deployment. His unit held Patrol Base Gowragi in Nawa District,

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...

, Afghanistan.

Death

On April 3, 2011, three days after his 21st birthday, Lew was found dead of a gunshot wound. He had been on guard duty at Patrol Base Gowragi in Afghanistan. His death was investigated by the Marines and determined to be suicide by gunshot to the head.

Investigation

Following the investigation, three fellow Marines stationed with Lew, including his sergeant, were charged for hazing, which is prohibited in the military. According to the investigation, "he was subjected to a series of physical tasks, had sand dumped on his face, and was mercilessly kicked and punched in the helmet after falling asleep on guard duty for the fourth time at an austere patrol base". They said they were taking "corrective action" because of his mistakes in the combat zone, which could be deadly to other Marines. Congresswoman Chu has noted such physical abuse does not relate to the Marines' stated policy about how plans for corrective actions are to be developed and implemented by Marines in superior rank.

Jacob Jacoby

Lance Cpl. Jacoby was court-martialed on charges of hazing; the trial was held at the Marine Base at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. In testimony, he admitted that he punched and kicked Lance Cpl. Harry Lew at the outpost in Afghanistan. Jacoby's legal case ended on January 30, 2012, when he took a plea deal from prosecutors to lesser charges of assault. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and reduction of rank.

Carlos Orozco III

Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III was accused of kicking sand in Lew's face and forcing him to do push-ups and leg lifts. LCPL Lew was wearing Orozco's jacket at the time of his death. LCPL Orozco had given the jacket to Lew the week prior. The panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines found Orozco not guilty at a court-martial at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay.

Benjamin Johns

Sergeant Benjamin Johns was also cleared of hazing charges in the death of Harry Lew.

Aftermath

Following congressional hearings in 2012 in which military officials discussed their efforts to prevent hazing and suicide among military members, which has reached a historic high, Congresswoman Judy Chu and others introduced in May 2012 the "Harry Lew Military Hazing Accountability and Prevention Act". It was passed by the House as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. It is intended to require all services to prohibit hazing, to establish uniform tracking, and focus more on prevention. It was reintroduced into following sessions, as the Senate did not pass it. Chu had requested that the

Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...

investigate the issue of hazing in the military. It released its report in February 2016, making several recommendations that were incorporated into a revised Harry Lew Act introduced by Chu in 2016. This was passed by the full Congress as S.2943 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017; it was enacted, signed by the President on Dec 23, 2016.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lew, Harry 2011 suicides 2011 deaths American military personnel who died by suicide United States military scandals 2011 in military history United States Marine Corps in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) United States Marines Male suicides Bullying and suicide Events that led to courts-martial Suicides by firearm Suicides in Afghanistan