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William Edwin Phillips
320th Bomb Group, 442 Bomb Squadron
| My Dad received his Presidential unit citation for the Fondi mission.
He was awarded the usual WWII victory medal, the American Theatre campaign
medal and the European Middle Eastern African Campaign medal with 6 battle
stars. The Presidential Unit Citation and The Ruptured Duck pin when he
left the service. He was trained at MacDill army air corps base in Tampa
Florida, he served with the 12th army air corps from May 21st 1942 until
August 25th 1945. I have a pillow case from MacDill air corps base that he
sent home to my mother in 1942 that is a cherished memento. I will send a
photo of him in uniform with my mother taken in 1942 in Florida. A photo
of "Shif'less", taken in 1944, shows the duck under the name along with a
lot more bomb mission as well as more German planes shot down. It is a
good close up of my Dad and the nose art. Dad's plane was called " SHIF'LESS" with the tail number 41-34999. I'll send the 442nd patch. My father was with the 12th army air corps, 33rd Battalion, 442nd squadron, 320th bomb group in Tunisia from may 1942 until march 1944 when he was sent to England and participated in the campaigns of Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arne also the Air Offensive Europe and Anti Submarine patrols according to his service record which I have here. It's the old carbon copy record. His unit was given a Presidential Unit Citation on May 12th, 1944 for action above Fondi Italy in support of the advance of the 7th Army. His unit bombed in support of the Sicily landings, at Anzio, and Monte Cassino. His unit moved to France in November 1944 for support of operations bombing Germany and his service ended and he returned home on August 25th, 1945. He was born in Brooklyn
New York on March 11, 1914 and passed away on January 6th 1994 at the age
of 79 years 10 months. He lived in Midland a small area outside the town
of Central City in Muhlenberg County Kentucky which is the same town as
the Everly Brothers which my Mom and Dad knew as well as myself. He was a
Union Coal Miner with Island creek Coal Company after the war and before
he had a 1 hour radio show in Owensboro Kentucky which is where he lived
until meeting my mother, then moving to Midland and building a house
there. I have a lot of photos as I told you in my last email so I will let
you decide when you've had enough of them. I have approximately 225 of
them from the war that he took. I also have about 35 from my uncle his
brother who was with Patton's army but that's not the air corps which you
do. Nice Photos though, especially the |
MacDill