Lewis Jay Gentry enlisted in the U.S. Army on 26 November 1986. After his Basic and Advanced Individual Training, he served in a transportation unit that took him to the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War and into Somalia. He was most recently assigned to Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 94th Engineer Battalion (MNCI), at Vilseck, Germany.

On 26 October 2005, SSG Gentry died of a noncombat-related cause in Mosul, Iraq.

Burial

Staff Sergeant Lewis Jay Gentry is buried at Detroit Memorial Park East in Warren, MI.