Roger A. Lewis was born in March 1920 in Chunchula [Annotator's Note: Chunchula, Alabama]. He was the oldest of eight children who grew up in a farming community. He attended Citronelle School [Annotator's Note: Citronelle High School in Citronelle, Alabama]. Not long after he got out of school, he decided to go see about enlisting in the military. He was 21 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and was already in the Marine Corps. They prepared for Japanese invasions with water-cooled machine guns [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1917 .30 caliber water cooled heavy machine gun], which shows how prepared they were. [Annotator's Note: Lewis laughs.] Lewis did basic training in San Diego [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California]. They learned to march and to take care of themselves, and went to the rifle range. He did not find it too challenging, as he had played football in school. He joined a guard company on Mare Island [Annotator's Note: in Vallejo, California]. This is where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He remained there until March 1942, then went back to San Diego where they formed the 22nd Marines [Annotator's Note: 22nd Marine Regiment, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade]. He was sent overseas in July 1942, going first to American Samoa then to Wallis Island [Annotator's Note: Wallis, Wallis and Futuna]. The Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] built fighter and bomber stations on Wallis. While on Wallis, Lewis did guard duty and helped load and unload ships. There was a problem with elephantiasis [Annotator's Note: a rare condition spread by mosquitoes which causes limbs to swell], so they used mosquito nets.

Roger A. Lewis left Wallis Island [Annotator's Note: Wallis and Futuna] and returned first to American Samoa, and then continued to the Hawaiian Islands. They prepared to go to the Marshall Islands as a reserve unit. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background.] They arrived in Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: or Enewetak; the Battle of Eniwetok, 17 to 23 February 1944; Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] without knowing much about it. Once they arrived, they found out that the Japanese were dug in and had everything underground. Their grenades were not effective against the defense, so they began using British-made grenades that worked better. The dead Japanese bodies remained exposed for days, which smelled terrible. They returned to the Marshall Islands before going to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands], which was secured by this point. Lewis heard that the Japanese would pretend to surrender, carrying a peace flag, before killing whoever they were surrendering to. Lewis served as a runner, communicating messages.

Roger A. Lewis went to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] for training. Then they [Annotator's Note: 22nd Marine Regiment, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade] went to Guam [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Guam, 21 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands] around February 1944. He dug a foxhole and shared it with a replacement soldier. That night, a Japanese artillery shell fell on the replacement's side of the foxhole and tore his rifle up and damaged his ear drums. Lewis was not wounded. They came under fire another time and there was an ammunition truck nearby. The truck driver was trying to get out of there quickly, and Lewis was hit by the front wheel. He was brought to first aid and was transferred to a ship. Lewis wound up in a hospital in Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii]. He left the hospital in December 1944 and went to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] before returning to Charleston, South Carolina via train. He was there when the war ended [Annotator's Note: 15 August 1945].

While in Charleston [Annotator's Note: Charleston, South Carolina], Roger A. Lewis did guard duty at a German POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camp. He was in Charleston when the war ended [Annotator's Note: 15 August 1945]. He went to a hospital in Quantico, Virginia to be treated for rheumatic fever. He then went to Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina] and stayed there until he was discharged. Before that, a Marine division was being formed and looking for officers. Lewis was supposed to be part of a tank destroyer unit, but his two years were up and he was discharged. He had met a girl at the USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] in North Carolina and they got married. Once discharged, they returned to Alabama. He worked during the day and went to school at night. He finished with a degree in accounting and business administration. He did not have trouble readjusting to civilian life. He retired in 1972.