Remembering Brookfield native Jason Dale Lewis
BROOKFIELD-- Prayers were offered in local churches on Sunday as the town mourned the death of U.S. Navy SEAL Jason Dale Lewis, the second Brookfield native to die in Iraq since 2005.
The 30-year-old Lewis, a 1995 Brookfield High School graduate and a special warfare operator first class, was one of three sailors killed when a homemade explosive device blew up beneath their Humvee in Baghdad on Friday.
"He was a wonderful man and he loved his children very much," Lewis' widow, Donna (Tyranski) Lewis said in a brief telephone interview Sunday afternoon. Lewis' family declined further comment and referred all other questions to military officials.
First Selectman Jerry Murphy, said the thoughts of the entire town were with the dead serviceman's family.
"Brookfield is a warm community, and we feel terrible about the death of this fine young man," Murphy said, adding that the town would hold some kind of observance to honor Lewis when his family feels it would be appropriate.
"We will definitely do something, but not without getting the approval from his family first," Murphy said.
The Rev. Ann Beams, pastor of the Valley Presbyterian Church, said that her congregation offered prayers on Lewis' behalf at worship services Sunday morning.
"I saw in the newspaper that Brookfield had lost another service person, and I asked the people to pray for his family," she said.
Lewis became the 40th active duty service member with Connecticut ties , and the second from Brookfield, to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
In March, 2005, 21-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Schmidt III died from injuries sustained in a firefight near Fallujah.
Lewis, the father of three children, enlisted in the Navy in July 1996, and after completing recruit training in November, earned a spot with the elite, special operations unit -- known by the acronym for Sea, Air, Land -- the following February.
SEALs are the naval counterpart to the Army's Green Berets, and considered to be among the among the best commando forces in the world.
Lewis was assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team that was stationed in Virginia Beach, Va. A Navy spokesman on Sunday couldn't say how long Lewis had been in Iraq or whether he served any prior tours there.
"As a retired Navy captain, I dealt with SEALs for years," First Selectman Murphy said. "If they are not the best fighting unit in the world, they are close."
A former high school friend and current Brookfield resident, Chris Brown, recalled Lewis as a charismatic individual who "could light up a room" when he entered.
"He was an outdoors kind of guy who was military-oriented, and he had the kind of ingenuity that it would take to become a SEAL," Brown said. "It took me back when I saw his name this morning."
