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Sidney Phillips at the battle ship park.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01609/sid_1609055f.jpg

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Sidney and his wife Mary cutting their wedding cake.
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/the_pacific/marines/phillips-wedding.jpg

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Sidney and his friend Eugene Sledge in mobile after the war.

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http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/thepacific/images/6/6e/Sid-Real_Life-Younger.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20100522064345

Picture of Sidney Phillips in Melbourne, Australian.

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Picture of Sidney and his sister.
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/the_witnesses.htm

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February 9,1943
Finnaly we won the war. The Japanese lost at least 31,400 men at war. It was  long and hard war but we did it. We lost a hard 2,000 men but we made it. But it's hard to see some of the friends laying on the ground dead.  The people I knew and cared are gone I try hard not shed a tear when I think about them.         The people that did survived gathered together to have a serveis for the people who didn't. It was hard to watch  the whole but I did. That day way hard to forget. But on the bright side we stopped Japanese from spreading.
-Sidney Phillips

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1942
I am going overseas to New Zealand to a island called Solomon Island. I want to participate in the landing of  Guadlcanal. But is't very  out here. Hundreds and Hundreds of soliders die everyday. It's like the flu was going around . I see Japnese figher planes fly everywhere ready for battle. This a very heavy war with Japan but there is a hope the the U.S can win this war.               The day has come. The day that we do a surprise attack on the Japanese. Bullets were fired everywhere. You had to crawl to avoid the bullets. The rampage went on for hours and hours, day by day, year by year. I felt like it will never stop doing the simple daily tasks in life were like life or death. You could have been striked with a bullet at any time of the day.
-Sidney Phillips

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http://www.fox10tv.com/story/30124837/remembering-a-local-legend-son-speaks-about-dr-sidney-phillips

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Mobile lost a local legend on Saturday. Dr. Sidney Phillips lost his battle with prostate cancer at the age of 91. Phillips was a local physician, author and WWII veteran. He's also known for his influence on documentaries and the HBO series, The Pacific.

If you've ever watched the series, you know about Sidney Phillips. That's because one of the series' main characters is based on his life.

It's just one of the many memories Sidney Phillips III has with his father.

"The Pacific, being part of that was pretty amazing to go to Hollywood and walk the red carpet into the theater," said Dr. Phillips' son.

It's not only the red carpet that Dr. Phillips left his mark on. Aside from his successful book, You'll be Sor-ree, and his influence on the PBs documentary, The War, he's also known as a local hero here in the Port City. There is even a street and a school named after him.

As we reported last year, hundreds of marines from Pensacola came to Mobile to meet him.

"For us to get out here, meet the man, the legend, and shake his hand, hear his stories, it's amazing," said Major Eric Brown a year ago.

"I was almost brought to tears when I came out of there," responded Dr. Phillips. "Because I was nothing. I was just a PFC in the Marine Corps. I wasn't a general or anything like that and I love the Marines and I always will."

Phillips III said there are too many great memories to share.

"Even though he was a doctor, he took time out to spend time with us and that was something... those memories are what I will always treasure for the rest of my life."

He said his father touched the lives of everyone he met, even when he was in pain fighting prostate cancer.

"All the nurses were laughing he was always teasing people and giving them a hard time," he said. "The nurses looked at me and said, 'you can bring this man back here anytime, he's made our day!'"

Although it was an emotional day for the family, his son says they will continue to honor to his memory and look forward to being with him again one day.

"This is a celebration and something to be sad over I mean, of course we'll miss him, but he's in a better place."

He said says they are planning a funeral for sometime late next week. We'll let you know when an official date has been set.

All content © 2015, WALA; Mobile, AL. (A Meredith Corporation Station). All Rights Reserved.

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Devan Coffaro, Photojournalist: Jason Cooper

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Remembering a local legend: son speaks about Dr. Sidney Phillips

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Mobile lost a local legend on Saturday. Dr. Sidney Phillips lost his battle with prostate cancer at the age of 91. Phillips was a local physician, author and WWII veteran. He's also known for his influence on documentaries and the HBO series, The Pacific. If you've ever watched the series, you know about Sidney Phillips.

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https://parade.com/109366/hughambrose/14-a-fight-to-the-death/

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U.S. troops on Guadalcanal in 1942.

On Sunday, March 14, HBO will air the first episode of "The Pacific," a 10-part miniseries about America's battle against Japan during the Second World War. Executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as a companion to "Band of Brothers," their 2001 miniseries about the war in Europe, "The Pacific" follows three U.S. Marines as they fight their way from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. PARADE asked the series' historical consultant Hugh Ambrose-s on of the late World War II historian Stephen Ambrose-to explain why a conflict that ended 65 years ago still matters today.

"I cherished the nonsense, Hugh. The nonsense got me through the Battle of Guadalcanal," Sidney Phillips said in 2004, chuckling before taking a pull on his cigar. It was always this way with combat veterans, I thought. They begin with the funny stories. That was the first evening I spent with Sid on the back porch of his home near Mobile, Ala., but as a result of my work as the historical consultant for The Pacific, it was followed by countless phone calls, e-mails, and visits.

Through my interviews with Sid and hundreds of other veterans, I came to realize the essential truth about the battle in the Pacific. Today many Americans think of World War II as one monumental event, but it was actually two distinct wars. In the battle against Germany in Europe and Africa, U.S. soldiers understood that one side would force the other to surrender. But in the Pacific theater, the troops fought knowing that their war would end only when one side annihilated the other.

Dr. Sidney Phillips today.

On Dec. 7, 1941, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Sid and his best friend, Eugene Sledge, thought that the war was about vengeance. America had to defend itself and its allies. Since Gene's mother wouldn't sign his enlistment papers, Sid rode his bicycle alone to join up the next day. The Marine Corps recruiter pledged to put the 17-year-old "eyeball to eyeball with the Japs." Thinking back, the retired physician's blue eyes twinkled. "It was the only thing that recruiter didn't lie about."

Handsome and articulate, Sid made the war seem almost a lark. His unit walked ashore on Guadalcanal, causing an enemy garrison to flee. Japanese ships soon returned and drove off the U.S. Navy, leaving the Marines with only captured rice to eat. A prankster wrote a menu and hung it at the mess hall. It had entrees like "Jap rice without corned beef" and desserts like "Jap rice without peaches." Sid paused in his telling and added, "And you could choose whatever you wanted from the menu." This was the kind of light story he told whenever the topic of "The War" came up.

Sid's combat was intense yet infrequent. From his foxhole one night, he watched battleships from the two sides face off. "We thought we were winning," he said. "Every time a ship blew up, we'd cheer." In the morning, he learned that the Japanese had triumphed. Intense ground fighting began shortly afterward. Sid's unit had to hold the line against soldiers led by officers screaming " Banzai!" and clambering over piles of their own dead.

Sidney Phillips (left) and Eugene Sledge in 1943.

Back in Mobile, Eugene Sledge lied to his parents and shipped out in 1943. (I never had the honor of meeting Sledge, who died in 2001, but I got to know him from reading his memoir, With the Old Breed, and from poring over his unit's reports and interviewing his comrades.) In a quirk of fate, Gene became a mortarman with the Marines-exactly like his pal Sid. The two friends met up at a Pacific rest camp in the summer of 1944. Sid told Gene about his experiences: Guadalcanal, nine months of R&R in Australia, then the Battle of Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain. Still, during his time at war, Sid had devoted more hours to fending off corrosive jungle rot than to fighting the enemy. After a few weeks at the camp, he rotated home, leaving Gene and his comrades to finish the job in the Pacific.

Gene's war began in September 1944 after America had built the most powerful armada the world had ever seen. His unit, armed with tons of bullets and napalm, arrived on the beaches of islands that U.S. forces had already bombed to smithereens. Across the hot coral of Peleliu and the fertile valleys of Okinawa, Marines ran toward enemy guns. Casualties on both sides skyrocketed. So did the hatred. Since the Japanese couldn't win, Gene wrote, they "killed solely for the sake of killing, without hope or higher purpose." Wounded enemy soldiers cried for help, but when an American got close, his adversary would detonate a grenade to kill one last Marine. Gene's unit began shooting injured Japanese troops in the head.

Gene grew to hate the enemy for choosing to battle so viciously to the death. By matching their fanaticism, he and his friends were losing their humanity and peace of mind. It scared him. America would win, but what would that victory look like?

Fortunately, the war did not end with vengeance but compassion. By helping to build a free Japan and showing that friendship and stability can be born from brutality, America also won the peace. This is the proud heritage of the brave men-like Gene and Sid-who fought in the Pacific. Today, as the U.S. is once again at war with an implacable enemy willing to fight to the death, it's a lesson our leaders should remember.

Hugh Ambrose is a historian and was a consultant on the documentary Price for Peace, for which Steven Spielberg and Stephen Ambrose were the Executive Producers. He was a consultant to his father on his books, and is also serving as the historical consultant on The Pacific miniseries. Ambrose is also the former vice president of the national World War II Museum and has led battlefield tours through Europe and along the Pacific Rim.

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U.S. troops on Guadalcanal in 1942. On Sunday, March 14, HBO will air the first episode of "The Pacific," a 10-part miniseries about America's battle against Japan during the Second World War. Executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as a companion to "Band of Brothers," their 2001 miniseries about the war in Europe, "The Pacific" follows three U.S.

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http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/09/beloved_alabama_wwii_veteran_s.html

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I1941
Now I am in Parris island, everyday training gets harder and harder. Carrying and lifting heavy loads of wood all day was a painful job. Every inch I moved it felled like electrical currents going through me it was just too much but I have to go on. In the summer times it would be so hot that the put pit would dry in a snap. But when it rain it would pour sometimes water would in up in your boots.
Your foot would be soaked for hours. The cabin that we had was small and cramped. There was no space for anyone there was about fifthteen of us in one cabin. Nothing about Parris island that was great. The living condations weren't great the  sergeants where all in your face screaming at you.
-Sidney Phillips

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1941
Putting my name into the daft is nenver wrecking. Knowing that putting my name on this slip of paper can change my life forever. Will I make it? Can I survive the war? Will I ever make it back home to my family? All of that could if I put my name on that slip of paper. Knowing that risking my life for someone who can be prevented be killed by a Nazis gives me the strength to enter this war.
I just wonder what is like in war. Where will I be in war.
-Sidney Phillips

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It's December 8, 1941 the day  I join the mariners. I am so excited to enter war to defect the Nazis. But I am a little sad to leave my best friend Eugene behind. But being at the age of 17 comes with greater risk. But I am brave enough to take that risk.                 I want to be able to sever my country. I wanted to stop the Nazis from taking over.
-Sidney Phillips

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Metals that Sidney Phillips earned.
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/stowetoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/25/a259f45e-04b6-11e5-ba64-dbfba3554a19/556635d7de98e.image.png

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Sidney Phillips U.S.M.C uniform.
http://www.valorstudios.com/Images/Uniforms/second-set/composite-box.jpg

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Sidney Phillips's army helmet.
http://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/default/yp_4fee621c4b47a3.25378426/The-Pacific-Sid-Phillips-metal-helmet-3.jpg

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His dog tag that he wore in war
http://www.propstore.com/product/pacific-the-2010-television-series/sidney-phillips-ashton-holmes-ep-4-10-ball-link-chain-dog-tags/

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Cover of his book you'll be sor-ree  http://www.marinesidphillips.com/sidney-phillips-autographed-book.htm

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1. Was born on September 2, 1924.
2. In June of 1941 Phillips graduted high school.
3. Joined the Marines at the age of 17 on December 8, 1941.
4. In 1942 he went overseas to New Zealand then.
5. In August of 1942 he went to the Solomom Island where he participated in the lading on Guadlcanal.
6. In 1943 he was sent to New Guinea for training to participate in the invasion of Cape Gloucester.
7. In April 1946 he got married
8. His book You'll be Sor-Ree was published in 2010.
9. On March 14, 2014 the tv show the show 'The Pacific' came on. This show was about Sidney Phillips time in war.
10. He died September 26, 2015 in his hometown of Mobile, AL at the age of 91.

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Sidney Phillips at the age of 91.
https://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5193.htm

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Sidney Phillips with his high school friend Eugene Sledge.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393642823656133020/

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Picture of Sidney Phillips with his book called You'll Be Sor-ree!  This book is about his time in war.
http://www.marinesidphillips.com/sidney-phillips-autographed-book.htm

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Sidney Phillips posing with a painting of a chacter in his book
http://image.al.com/home/bama-media/width620/img/live/photo/8849466-mmmain.jpg

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Sidney Phillips in the USMC in 1942.
https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703862704575099793207594182?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703862704575099793207594182.html