Detail victim

Name LEWIS
Initials DS
First name DONALD SWAIN
Place of birth Banstead
Country Surrey
Family Youngest son of Capt. Ernest and Maria Jane Lewis, of Guildford; husband of Margaret Maitland (formerly Lewis), of 72, Addison Rd., West Kensington, London.
Education Appointment in the Royal Engineers, December 1904 (Lieutenant in 1907); joined the RFC in 1912 (Captain 1914)
Extra info Pioneer of wireless communication and wireless levelling of artillery (became standard, first used during a battle in Nieuwkapell, March 1915)

Place & date of enlistment 1913, RFC
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Medals D S O, Mentioned in Despatches
Regiment and unit 1st Squadron Royal Air Force (Flying Corps) 2nd Wing
Other data related to military career n°4 Squadron (France), n°3 Squadron (april 1915), n°2 Wing; awarded the D.S.O. "for valuable information repeatedly furnished to the Royal Artillery in regard to the position of the enemy's guns."

Wounded Artillery Reconnaissance Patrol; anti-aircraft fire; Wijtschate-Hollebeke; "Parasol Morane received direct hit on fuselage, east of Wytschaete, hit at 11.30 a.m.; tail fell of about 4,000 feet; machine last seen falling nose first" ; observer Captain Gale was with him and also killed in action.
Type of wounds Killed in action
Date of death 10 April 1916
Died at the age of 30
Grave reference Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery V - A - 25