Billy Phillips was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1948. He was the son of a Greek American WW2 USAAF veteran and B-17 Gunner, Alexander Phillips with heritage from Mouzaki, Thessaly in Greece (for whom our followers can read in next week) and Alyce Checoura, who was also a Greek-American, with heritage from Dardanelle in Asia Minor. Billy’s actions during the Vietnam War couldn’t be described better than his own words. The following narrative was given for Eleftheria Post #6633 - "Honor & Remembrance" book, which was published in…and which we reproduce here, along with Billy's personal photos from his tour of duty:

"I graduated from high school in June of 1966 and entered the service the following September. I called my Mom and Dad the day I was to take a train from 30th Street Station and told them I had joined the Army and was leaving for South Carolina for basic training. Needless to say, they rushed down to see me off. Mom was really upset, Dad was a little more understanding; I was 18-years old. The train was an old troop train, where they packed us in like cattle, draftees and enlistees alike. Our destination was Fort Gordon, GA, for basic training, which lasted eight weeks. I was given a two-week leave and then it was on to Fort Polk, LA, for advanced Infantry training. This place was a real hellhole. They had re-opened the post a year before to accommodate the increased flow of new recruits. This post had been closed since the end of WW II so you can imagine what the conditions were. We were there another eight weeks, and then it was on to Fort Benning, GA, for parachute training. While there, I volunteered for the Pathfinder Course, which taught us how to direct aircraft (helicopters) in and out of a landing zone. After finishing the course, I was sent to Fort Rucker, AL, for advanced training in helicopter operations and tactics and then, finally, I was transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, for training in helicopter weapons systems. I received my orders to go to Vietnam in August of 1968, was given a 30-day leave, and arrived in Vietnam in mid-September of 1968. I was assigned to the 282nd Assault Helicopter Company, 212th Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade. Our base was located at Marble Mountain Air Facility outside of Da Nang on the coast. The base was a US Marine Corps facility, with us being the only Army personnel assigned there. As far as I know, our company was the only US Army helicopter unit assigned that far north in Vietnam at that time. Our mission was to provide air support to the US Marine and South Vietnamese units. Our company consisted of four platoons a scout platoon of four OH-6A observation helicopters called "Loaches", a gunship platoon of six UH-1C Huey armed helicopters, and two lift platoons of eight UH-1H “Huey” helicopters each. My assignment was with the gunship platoon as a door-gunner aboard an armed helicopter. My day started at about 5:00 a.m. when I woke up and had some breakfast in the mess hall then walked out to the flight line and loaded the weapons on the helicopter. My ship was outfitted with a seven—tube rocket pod on each side which fired seven 2.75-inch folding tin aerial rockets one at a time or all at once, and a General Electric mini-gun mounted on a pylon on each side of the ship capable of tiring up to 6.000 rounds of 7.62mm per minute. It was my job to load the rockets in the tubes and mount the mini-guns on the pylons and to load all the ammo boxes which were roughly 35.000 rounds of belted 7.62mm ammo with every fifth round a tracer. Our crew consisted of four men an Aircraft Commander who was the overall commander of the aircraft who sat in the right front seat, the pilot, who sat in the left front seat; the crew chief who sat behind the pilot atop the ammo boxes on the left side of the ship. The crew chief’s job was to maintain the aircraft and make sure it was flyable every day. He also acted as a door—gunner armed with an M-60 handheld machine gun with 3.000 rounds of belted ammo in a box at his feet. I sat on the right side of the ship also with an M-60 hand-held machine-gun and 3,000 rounds of belted ammo. We usually lifted off around 7:00 am, with another helicopter as our wingman. This was known as a "Light Fire Team". Other times we flew with two other helicopters which were known as a "Heavy Fire Team" and flew all—day long going back to base in the early evening only stopping during the day to refuel and rearm and to grab a bite to eat from the C-Rations we carried on board. This was seven days a week; there were no days off in Vietnam. Our missions varied from answering radio calls for help from troops on the ground in contact with the enemy, escorting lift ships carrying troops into hot landing zones and Hunter-Killer missions which were when one of our scout helicopters would fly very slowly at tree-top level to draw fire. We would fly at 1500 feet above him and when the scout ship was fired upon we would roll in and engage the enemy with our weapon systems, but most of the time we would fly at very low level hoping to draw fire and looking to engage enemy troops in the open."