Background
Phillips was born in Mobile, Alabama, the second child after his sister Katharine.
Phillips was born in Mobile, Alabama, the second child after his sister Katharine.
His recollections revolve around his time as a young man fighting in the Pacific War as a United States Marine. A younger brother, John, followed. Their father, Sidney, was a United States Army veteran of the Battle of Argonne Forest and became a teacher, then the principal of Murphy High School.
Phillips, a 1941 Murphy High School graduate, volunteered to enlist in the United States Marines at age seventeen on December 8, 1941, then was inducted later that month after gaining parental permission.
He served with Hal Company, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division and saw combat as an 81mm mortarman in a number of battles including the Battle of the Tenaru during the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Cape Gloucester. He reported that his mortar crew observed effective fire control discipline with one example being a firefight on Cape Gloucester where they were able to provide light high explosive rounds through the jungle canopy only fifteen yards in front of their own lines.
Phillips reported that after his overseas duty he enrolled in V12, a program designed to educate young men so they could become United States Navy officers. However his four-year United States Marine Corps enlistment expired on December 31, 1945, freeing him to return to Mobile.
He had decided while at Cape Gloucester to become a physician so he followed by enrolling in Spring Hill College, then went to medical school to become a family physician.
He enlisted in the reserves while at Spring Hill, then was finally discharged in April 1948. In 2015, Phillips died in Alabama, after completing a long career and finally retiring. He died on September 26, 2015.
Phillips is the author of the book You"ll be Sor-ree, an accounting of his experiences in the United States Marines.
As a surviving veteran of World World War II battles including the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Cape Gloucester he has provided valuable documentary interviews describing his recollections of the Pacific Theater of Operations. (See oral history preservation) His character was played by actor Ashton Holmes in the Home Box Office miniseries The Pacific.