GREAT FALLS- On Memorial Day, we remember military members who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
For Trevor Lewis, there isn’t a day that goes by where he doesn’t reflect on the troops he served with.
Lewis was a Marine with Lima Company 3/25 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The company was made up of 180 Marines, 23 of whom never made it home alive.
“We knew, you know, there were going to be fire fights,” said Lewis. “But definitely, that was a life changing experience for every single one of us.”
It was January of 2005 when Lima Company was mobilized and sent overseas.
“They called the Lima Company, lucky Lima,” he said. “There were times where lucky Lima just wasn’t having the luck, I guess.”
Despite the staggering casualties, the memories of those lost in the line of duty lives on through his work.
Lewis said he’s dedicated his shop’s name to Christopher Lions.
“Had a marine buddy- he nicknamed me ‘LT.’ When we went to Iraq, he nicknamed me ‘LT.D.D- LT. Don’t Die,’” he said. “Both our wives were pregnant when we left. I came home and he didn’t.”
He’s moved forward following a passion that would make his fallen comrades proud: taxidermy.
“After you see something like that, you kinda realize life’s too short to do something you hate.”
Trevor Lewis is the owner of LTDD Taxidermy and LTDD Painting in Great Falls.
-Jason Laird reporting for MTN
