Introducing Jim Lewis

Three degrees and forty-one years -- that's how Jim Lewis, my sister and I are connected. (That's my sister Marci Williams on the left and Jim in the middle; I'm on the right.)

Jim was a Marine with Golf Company, second batallion, fifth marines (G 2/5) in 1968. He served from early 1968 until autumn, when he was critically wounded. Actually, it's a wonder he survived. But that's a story Jim can tell another day.

Once mended Jim started down an unlikely hopscotch of a career path... police officer, helicopter pilot, stuntman, actor, Hollywood cameraman. Now retired and living in Florida, he occasionally attends G2/5 events. That, of course, was how we met -- in September of 2007, at the Washington D.C. retirement ceremony for former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace (also a G 2/5 veteran).

As I've gotten to know Jim over the past 17 months I have come to appreciate his integrity, his his creative energy, his capacity to be amazed, his humor, and his compassion.

When I met Jim what I didn't know were the intricacies of how we were connected. My brother David was a squad leader in Hue City. David's fire team leader was a fine Marine by the name of Billy Tant. When Dave was killed, Billy Tant took over as squad leader. Some weeks later Jim arrived. He became Billy's fire team leader. When Billy was promoted, Jim became squad leader... for me, it's kind of like an inheritance from Dave.

Continuing with the connect-the-dots exercise, a young man named Jesse Griego also served with Dave and Billy Tant in Hue, and later became close friends with Jim. Jesse was killed on July 16, 1968; the new Kindergarten in A Xing has been built in his honor through Jim's fundraising efforts.

Now really, what's the likelihood that all these threads would come together after so many years? As a friend says, "when I stopped believing in miracles, the coincidences stopped happening." I delight in the "coincidences" of connections and of being here with Jim and the PeaceTrees delegation. And I wait with great expectancy for the coincidences that surely lie ahead.