Louie Phillips was born in Roswell, Georgia on May 5th, 1917 to Richard Phillips and Hattie Raper Phillips. Phillips attended School through the 8th grade and then attended High school for a year in Atlanta before dropping out in 1939. During his tenure in school, he played football and was the captain of a baseball team at one of his schools. He also reportedly played semi-pro baseball.
Phillips then joined the workforce as a textile operator at Exposition Cotton Mills where he worked for two years. Eventually, Phillips either had enough with factory work or was earning a reputation with the local police and joined the United States Marine Corps at the Macon, Georgia recruiting station on September 11th, 1940. Private Phillips completed boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina on November 9th, 1940. He then bounced around provisional companies until finding himself in D Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines on January 1st, 1941. From there, Private Phillips was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for training and practice landings in Puerto Rico. He returned to Parris Island with D company on April 2nd, 1941.
Private Phillips incurred his first AOL charge after leaving his post with D Company on May 31st, 1941 to go on leave and turned himself into the Atlanta recruiting station a week later on June 7th, 1941 with a heavily soiled uniform. Private Phillips was tried on June 14th, plead guilty, and was placed in solitary confinement on bread and water for 10 days with a ration every third meal as well as a $15 dock of his pay for that month. Private Phillips was then transferred to the 1st Guard Company at Parris Island, but apparently, this punishment was not enough, as only a few days out of solitary confinement, Private Phillips was found to be AOL on July 3rd, 1941, and was eventually apprehended by the Atlanta Police and was delivered to the Atlanta recruiting station on July 11th, 1941.
It was during his time AOL that on July 9th, 1941, an anonymous letter was received by the Marine Corps at either the Atlanta Recruiting office or Parris Island from a disgruntled acquaintance of Private Phillips who believed it unfair that he was declined from the corps for having a Police record while Phillips was accepted even though he also had a history with the Police. However, there is an alternative theory that this was perhaps Louie’s attempt to get himself discharged from the Marine Corps.
Regardless, Louie was returned to Parris Island where he plead guilty in his Court Martial and was sent to New River, North Carolina with a guard Company.
Private Phillips served a quiet stint in New River where he eventually was even promoted to Private First Class, but his old ways were still in him and he again went AOL on April 6th, 1942, and surrendered to his station of duty on April 10th, 1942 where he was again found guilty and was demoted to the rank of Private yet again. Phillips was then transferred with HQ Co, 1st Marine Division to San Francisco, California. It was here that his demotion sent him into a tail-spin as barely a month later, Louie went AWOL for the first time on May 17th, 1942, and surrendered at his station of duty on May 22nd. He was again found guilty and docked $16 of pay for 2 months.
Private Phillips’ disdain for the Corps continued to grow as he was then charged with Neglect of duty and was AOL from November 15th, 1942 until the following day. He was then given 10 days in solitary confinement with bread and water and was docked $10 pay for 6 months.
After being released from confinement, Louie and his unit were sent to Brisbane, Australia on December 18th, 1942, and then onto Melbourne with the veterans of the Guadalcanal campaign. Private Phillips’ time in Melbourne surrounded by the rowdy veterans of the 1st Marine Division did not bode well for him as he was finally charged for disobeying orders and going AWOL on May 3rd, 1943. He was subsequently arrested on May 7th, but escaped from custody and disappeared for 10 days, returning on May 24th after likely being caught and arrested. This was undoubtedly the final straw for the Marine Corps and he was charged on all 3 offenses, being sentenced to 90 days of EPD, a dock in pay of $25 for 6 months, and a subsequent dishonorable discharge.
However, for unknown reasons, but are likely due to the Corp’s need for manpower, Private Phillips was allowed to remain and was transferred to A Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Marine Regiment on May 1st, 1943 in Wagga Wagga, NSW to be trained in demolitions, bridging, and mine removing, which he completed without disruption on July 17th, 1943.
Private Phillips had seemingly turned his attitude and career with the Corps around and was then sent with A company to Goodenough Island in August 1943 where he experienced Japanese aerial bombardment and was promoted to Private First Class in November. His unit was sent to New Guinea on December 26th, 1943, and 4 days later, Private First Class Phillips saw his first action in combat when A company landed at Cape Gloucester to support the ongoing landings and battle. They remained on the island until March 2, 1944, when they disembarked and landed at Talasea on March 7th to support ongoing offensive and defensive operations. They fought there until April 26th when they were sent back to Cape Gloucester and then were bivouacked on Pavuvu on May 3rd, 1944. At this point, the 17th Marines were redesigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion and Phillips had proven himself to be a trustworthy Marine to his comrades and commanding officers. After resting and refitting on Pavuvu, A Company disembarked on August 26th, 1944 aboard an LST to Guadalcanal where they rehearsed landings between August 27th and September 2nd, 1944. Finally, on September 3rd, The 1st Marine Division embarked towards the unforgiving and hellish island of Peleliu.
A Company, 1st Engineer Battalion landed on White Beach II on the morning of September 15th, 1944 including Private First Class Louie Phillips. The 1st Engineer Battalion acted in support of the 1st Marine regiment, disabling mines and using explosives to destroy key defensive points such as pillboxes. The 3rd battalion First Marine Regiment then turned left and fought towards The Point, incurring devastating casualties while the rest of the regiment turned towards “The Ridges”. According to, Major Ray Davis, CO of 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, taking Hill 210 on September 17th “was the most difficult assignment I have ever seen. . . . Company A depleted itself on the bare ridge on the right as Company C became seriously over-extended on the left and was faltering. Everything was thrown in to exploit Company C's success. Remnants of Companies A and B, Engineer and Pioneer units were committed to filling the gaps as darkness came. Headquarters personnel were formed into a meager reserve. . . . Company C had moved 800 yards during the day, and we had been able to hold on although the cost was extremely heavy." On September 19th , A Company, 1st engineer battalion CO Captain Daniel J Mclellan was returning from the 1st Marines CP when he made a gruesome discovery. According to his own written account:
“On 19 September 1944, when I returned to White Beach from the first Marines CP, Corporal Mooney, the company clerk, told me that he had found the body of Private First Class Louie Phillips. I followed Corporal Mooney to a point roughly twenty-five yards forward of White Beach and seventy-five yards outboard of the ridge and saw the body of Private First Class Phillips. His personal belongings were in his pack, and he wore a pair of utility trousers with an "a" Company, First engineer battalion, stencil on the hip pocket. He wore dog tags which proved to me, beyond a doubt, that It was the body of Private First Class Louie Phillips.”
Private First Class Phillips was 27 years old when he died on Peleliu sometime between September 15th and 19th, 1944. He was considered to be “old” amongst the 18, 19, and 20-year-olds he served alongside but bravely did his duty that day the same as all of his comrades when he was struck in the chest by a mortar fragment and died.
However, Private First Class Phillips’ story does not quite end there as somehow in a mix-up by the GRS, his dog tags and other personally identifiable gear were lost, misplaced, or overlooked in his body’s processing. He was declared Missing In Action while his remains were buried in Manila as “Unknown X-1028”. He would remain listed as Missing in Action, even as his father passed away in 1946, with the only piece of his son he had left being his Purple Heart Medal. Eventually, on August 3rd, 1949, the GRS’ mistake was fixed and PFC Louie Phillips’ body was identified based on dental and medical records.
Phillips’ mother requested his remains be shipped back to Atlanta to J. Allen Couch and Son Funeral home and he was returned home on October 29th, 1949 to be laid to rest at the Old Roswell Cemetery in Roswell, Georgia.
One might find it easy to consider the service record of PFC Phillips as that of a delinquent who used the Corps to simply escape his potentially troubled background, only to continue such a lifestyle before he got himself killed in combat. However, the reality is a story of redemption, which can be seen in all of the intricate details of PFC Phillips’ comeback after so many mistakes., turning his character and legacy around as well as one small detail in his personnel record that revived officially marked his redemption in the service of his nation, “Would have been Awd. Char. Good had he been discharged, Buried: Unknown”. Louie Phillips exemplified the meaning of being an America Hero. He joined a cause with perhaps not the best intentions or reasons, but he took advantage of the freedoms afforded him by his nation, learned, and used his experiences to become better, and in turn, sacrificed his life to afford all of us the same opportunity.
It is a profound responsibility and honor for us here at The Peleliu Collection to be the caretakers and preservationists of PFC Phillips' legacy
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