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1st Lt Judah H. Lewittes graduated from Beacon High School and City College of New York. He was a teacher.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in New York City, New York on 30 July 1942.

He crashed during a mission over Germany and was taken prisoner. The exact date or circumstances are not known.

On 9 May 1945 Avro Lancaster RF-230 of 514 RAF Squadron departed from Juvincourt-et-Damary Airfield, France with destination Waterbeach RAF Airfield, UK, as part of Operation Exodus. The goal of the operation was to repatriate Allied POWs from Europe to Britain.

The airplane took off with six crew members and the recommended maximum of 24 passengers, all returning soldiers of the British Army. Lt Lewittes was not officially on board and must have been an additional passenger.

When the airplane approached Roye-Amy Airfield in France, the pilot F/Lt Donald Beaton, requested an emergency landing for an unknown reason. The airplane was seen at 1,000 feet, doing two tours over the airfield without losing altitude and all four engines running. The undercarriage was lowered on the first circuit and red Verey lights were fired from the aircraft. The undercarriage was then raised. Permission to land was given for but no reply was received. Green Verey lights were then firec to indicate the pilot had permission to land. The undercarriage was then seen to be lowered again and the aircraft headed southeast from the airfield flying slowly. It was then seen to go into a vertical bank to port with the nose up. It then went into a flat spiral levelling out just above some trees. It then dropped in a vary flat altitude to the ground and caught fire. All crew members and passengers, in total 31 men, lost their lives.

The cause of the accident was due to the incorrect position of passengers possibly due to them moving to the rear of the aircraft when they realised something was wrong. However no reason can be given as to why the pilot had prior to this, decided on a forced landing.

A few days before he was to board this plane, During his stay in Reims, he wrote a letter to his parents: "Well, now I have only one more war to fight and then I'll be home. Isn't it wonderful that I'm alive? We whipped the Germans pretty conclusively this time. Their cities have really taken a licking. The people here are very happy the war is over but there isn't the wild exuberance you'd expect. I have the satisfaction of having done my small bit against the group (Germany) that persecuted the Jews and the rest of the world too."

Lt Lewittes was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Champigneul, France.