Nixon III, Lewis “Blackbeard” “Lew” “Nix” III, born, 30-09-1918, in New York City, New York to Stanhope Wood Nixon and Doris Ryer Nixon Stanhope Wood Nixon (April 1, 1894 – January 12, 1958) was a vice president of the Nixon Nitration Works during the 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster.[1] He later became chairman of the board. Doris Ryer Nixon
(October 1, 1893 – June 24, 1948) was an American civic leader, particularly on the home front during World War II. The granddaughter of one of California’s first doctors, and daughter-in-law of a shipbuilder and industrialist, she became a national vice-president of the American Women’s Voluntary Services (AWVS) during the war. Lewis was the grandson of shipbuilder Lewis Nixon I (1861–1940) and Sally Wood Nixon (died 1937). At age seven, Lewis took third place in the model yacht regatta at Conservatory Lake in Central Park on 22-05-1926, earning a gold and bronze medal in the 35-inch (890 mm) boat class. As a youth, Nixon lived in New York City and Montecito, California; he traveled the world extensively, visiting Germany, France, and England. Nixon graduated from Cate School in Santa Barbara, then attended Yale University for two years. Lewis had one brother and one sister Fletcher Ryer Nixon and Blanche Nixon.
Nixon was selected (inducted) into the United States Army on 14-01-1941, in Trenton, New Jersey. After graduating from Army Officer Candidate School in 1941 as an infantry second lieutenant, he volunteered for the parachute infantry, part of the U.S. Army’s fledgling airborne forces. He was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR),
commanded by Colonel Robert Frederick “Bounding Bob” Sink.
The 506th was an independent regiment until June 1943, when it became part of the 101st Airborne Division
. Nixon went through the regimental unit training and pre-airborne training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and Airborne School at Fort Benning, eventually training at many locations throughout the United States. In September 1943, he was sent with the 506th to Aldbourne, Wiltshire, England, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Nixon was appointed as the 2nd Battalion intelligence officer (S2). He and the 506th parachuted into Normandy on June 6, 1944.






Nixon was one of the few men of the 101st Airborne to jump with another division or regiment. On 24-03-1945, Nixon was assigned by Major General Maxwell Davenport Taylor, the Commanding General of the 101st, to be an observer with Major General William Maynadier “Bud” Miley‘s




Nixon saw the defeat of Germany and ended World War II with the rank of captain. Nixon never fired a shot in combat, though he spent much time on the front lines during intense close fighting. He returned home in September 1945.
Nixon was remembered as always having a source of whisky no matter where the company was, and in particular for his love of the blended whisky Vat 69, as noted in the book Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose and the miniseries made from it.
On 20-12-1941, Nixon married Katharine Page of Phoenix, Arizona. That marriage failed, as did the next. Lewis married his third wife, Grace Umezawa,
in 1956. She had been a student in California in the spring of 1942 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
ordered the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Richard Winters served as the best man at the wedding. Nixon got his life back together and overcame his alcoholism during their marriage. They had no children.
Death and burial ground of Nixon III, Lewis “Blackbeard” “Lew” “Nix”.




After the war, Nixon worked at his family’s Nixon Nitration Works in Edison (then Raritan Township), New Jersey, alongside his father, Stanhope, and longtime friend, Richard “Dick” Davis Winters.
Lewis Nixon died, age 76, of complications from diabetes in Los Angeles, California, on 11-01-1995. Winters gave the eulogy at Grace’s request.

Leave a Reply