The 18-year-old bugler showcased his skill at multiple ceremonies on Anzac Day, performing the Last Post and Reveille to crowds of up to 1000, including at the Cobram Civic Centre.
“I started off playing the trumpet when I was about nine years old,” the Barooga resident said.
“I really liked the sound of the trumpet because I listened to lots of Louis Armstrong and thought, ‘yeah, I’d really like to give that a go’.”
In his spare time, he has also picked up the violin and tin whistle.
“With the trumpet, it’s harder to hit the high notes,” he explained of the bugle.
“But with a bugle, it’s easier to hit the high notes, but you have less control.”
He plays more trumpet than he does bugle, but still spends about half an hour each day practising on his bugle, which was gifted to him by a friend last year and has a story of its own.
“This bugle was given to me last year by a man named Dale. And he bought it, I think, in 1965, from a World War II clearance sale at the Tocumwal Airfield,” Lewis said.
“He heard about me playing, and he just thought he’d give it to me, which was a very nice offer. I couldn’t thank him enough.”
An assessment by a brass specialist later dated Lewis’s bugle to between 1800 and 1850.
Lewis is looking forward to where he and his bugle travel the next several years, but is content in volunteering his time to perform at more Anzac Day services.
“I really do enjoy it,” he said.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing to be able to provide and to help all of these people remember the sacrifice that so many people made.”
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