World War II Honoree

Claude B. Phillips

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Mililani, Hawaii

Honored By

Mr. & Mrs. Netley & Yvette D. D'Souza

Relationship

Friend

Was a Pearl Harbor survivor; then, a Staff Sergeant, manning a machine-gun to down one of the Japanese attacking planes for which he was awarded the silver star. A few months later, he was part of a volunteer Army Air Corps B-17 bomber crew that successfully photographed in detail Japanese military positions at Wake Island, as well as fighting off and shooting down several enemy fighters over the target. For this perilous intelligence mission from which two other crews had not returned, he then earned the Distinguished Service Cross. For his actions as a B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier and navigator in the Guadalcanal Campaign, the 2nd Battle of the Coral Sea and 82 other South Pacific combat missions, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Presidential Unit Citation, and the air medal with oak leaf cluster and other citations. He was inducted, December 5, 1997, into the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii Gallery of Heroes. Retired after a 27 years service.