Lewis returned to London only to re-enlist when he was older in 1918 (per London Remembers). By then the war was coming to a close and he served with the army of occupation in Austria. According to the Daily Sabah, when Lewis came home, he became a police officer, got married, retired, and ran a pub. From his marriage, he has one son, Colin.

Lewis told his son that he had fought in World War I and was at the Battle of the Somme (via Abroad in the Yard). Knowing his father was born in 1903, he thought it to be a lie; that would have meant he was 12 years while he was fighting in the Great War. He never discussed it again and his son never believed him. Lewis died in 1969 at the age of 66. It wasn’t until Colin’s uncle died that he discovered his father had been telling him the truth.

His uncle had saved documents regarding Lewis’ service. When Colin sent his father’s birth certificate and the letter from the war office stating he would be sent home due to his young age, The Imperial War Museum in London declared Lewis as Britain’s youngest soldier from World War I (per Army Tigers). For a century, no one knew Lewis’s identity or story. His son later said he was disappointed he couldn’t congratulate his father or tell him he was proud. Although 12 is incredibly young, the BBC states that 250,000 boys under the age of 18 fought in World War I.