By Joe Luu
Paul Lew was born in Los Angeles on January 09, 1934. Lew is the eldest son of a family of seven. His father passed away early in his life and he was responsible for helping his mother to raise his siblings. He has three younger brothers and one younger sister.
He went to Poly Technic High School in Los Angeles from 1950 to 1952. After high school, he continued to pursue his education by attending LA City College and majored in business administration.
Upon graduation from college, he was drafted for the Korean War in the spring of 1954. He went to boot camp at Fort Ord, CA, home of the 6th Army. A few months after, Private Lew was stationed at Fort Lee in Virginia for additional military intelligence training. Lew was attached to the 3rd Marine Recon working as an intel specialist in the Korean conflict.
“If I tell you what I did, I have to kill you” jokingly rebuttal Paul when asked about his duties in Korea.
A decade later, he deployed overseas again, this time to Vietnam as a military advisor from 1966 to 1968. Paul served honorably and earned the rank of Specialist. Specialist Lew has over 10 years of combine active duty and reserve components. After the Army, he worked as a finance officer for various cities including Beverly Hills, Thousand Oaks, Lake Elsinore, etc.
He smiled and boasted “I was so good with my numbers and accounting in Beverly Hills that they sent me to work for the poorest city, Lake Elsinore, at that time, to manage its finances. I helped that city tremendously”.
Missing serving his country and craving for more action, Paul decided to join the LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department, in 1984. He started out as a patrol officer and moved up his law enforcement career to training officer, detective, etc.
Officer Lew recently retired in January 2020 after over 36 years of police work. He is an active member of Post 628 American Legion in Chinatown, Los Angeles.
Paul is 88 years old and his health and spirit are miraculously great. Paul enjoys meeting and greeting people. His final thoughts and words of wisdom “Life is too short, enjoy it while you can and laugh more”.
He currently lives in Laguna Beach, CA with his sister, Janet. He has three sons; one son is unmarried and the other two sons have wonderful families.
(The Stop the Hate project was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.)
