He was accepted into the Army in October 1915 and after basic training was recommended for a commission in January 1916. On the 1st of that month he was made 2nd Lt. 183 Brigade, RFA, when just 19 years old. A few months later he was sent to France, only to suffer an injury 2 1/2 months later when his horse fell on him injuring his hip and back. Lewis was hospitalized and declared unfit for service until the following year, when he was again sent to France towards the end of April 1917, this time to 190 Brigade, RFA.


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After obtaining his B.Sc in chemistry, he went to work for an M.Sc for a Professor Baker, who directed his studies of the mechanism by which sunlight darkens Silver Chloride. His Professor did not agree with his findings, and refused to put his paper up for his M.Sc. So he left a disappointed man. His thesis was subsequently proved to be correct, (probably by Kodak), and Lewis was able to become an F.R.C.S on the basis of that and subsequent work in various industrial fields.

At Crystalate, my Father was in charge of checking all the incoming raw material, and the finished products, which were 45 rpm shellac gramophone records. The tests involved checking the incoming shellac and listening to freshly pressed records to determine if the quality was OK. In doing this he acquired a large collection of many different records including some with Toscanini conducting various pieces from several operas. These records were all under the brand of His Master's Voice, and the label on the record was always a picture of a dog listening to an old-fashioned record player. Father kept several of these test records, which, if left at the works, would have been scrapped at the factory as used. Among them were several records of Caruso singing “O Sole Mio”, and other operatic pieces.