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| S. Sgt. John Phipp's 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment approaching Sansapor in July 1944. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29375588&ref=acom http://www.unithistories.com/units_index/default.asp?file=../units/6th%20inf.div%20history.asp |
John F. Phipps never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 12, 1917 in Missouri. His parents were also both born in Missouri. They lived on his grandfather's farm which was managed by John's father. His father had the interesting name Seward Sherman Phipps, suggesting his family's support for the North during the Civil War since it looks like he was named for Lincoln's Secretary of State and for General William Sherman. Seward Phipps was born in 1864. He was 29 years older than his wife and died in 1937. John had an older brother and sister. By 1940 he had completed eight years of schooling. He was living with his widowed mother working on the family farm with his older brother.
He enlisted in the army on June 14, 1941. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 6th Infantry Division.
The 6th Infantry Division arrived in Hawaii in August 1943 where it was trained in jungle warfare. In June 1944 it was in combat in New Guinea. The division landed at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the Philippines on D-day, January 9, 1945. For the next 100 days Sgt. Phipps was in combat as the 1st Infantry Regiment advance through Luzon, including the Battle of Manila in February.
On April 18, Sgt. Phipps led an assault on Mt. Mataban. The Japanese held strongly fortified positions at the top of the hill. He was felled by machine-gun fire.
His grave is at Hebron Cemetery in Macon, Missouri.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY
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