LCpl. Steven L. Phillips Semper Fidelis

LCpl. Steven Phillips (on left)
Photo taken during Operation Steel Curtain 11/20/05

LCpl. Phillips lived in Chesapeake, VA for awhile although his home and family are in Pennsylvania. He was deployed with the 3/6 Teufelhunden out of Camp Lejeune N.C. We are forever grateful to this young hero and to the family that raised and loved him so.

Lance Cpl. Steven Phillips was a Sept. 11 warrior. Once the twin towers fell and the Pentagon was struck, he gave up a comfortable life in Chesapeake, Va., and his dreams of one day flying into space, and joined the Marines.

He died Tuesday near Qaim, Iraq, one month before he was to return home for good. The Marines who knocked on the family's door explained that Phillips had been driving a Humvee and swerved to avoid something in the road. The Humvee rolled over an embankment and crushed Phillips's chest, killing him. No one else in the vehicle was injured.

"He was a very dedicated, compassionate person," his mother, Paulette, said quietly yesterday of her only child. "He believed very passionately in what he was doing."

"After 9/11, he felt the need to do more, to make sure the war didn't come here on our soil," she said. "He felt sure it would if more men didn't volunteer to fight over there."

At home, along Jay Phillips Hill Road, Phillips's relatives said they're slowly coming to grips with what happened. "We're saying that the Lord must have needed him. Whether in a Humvee or standing right next to us here, it was just his time," Paulette Phillips said. "We loved him, and we'll miss him. But we're very proud of him."
Excerpt from The Washington Post by Brigid Schulte 02-10-06

You are welcome to sign the Guestbook for his family at Legacy.com