06 Jan 2004 Phillip was a product of the West Texas oilfields, he went into the Marines at age 18. He lost his life at 19. His unit's story is chronicled in the book "The Village" by F. J. West, Captain, USMC. Of the 15 Marines in his unit, in 485 days, seven were killed and three were wounded. He was the second Marine killed in less than a month from his home town of Odessa, Texas. In four months, there were four more, all Marines. I knew Phillip casually. He was friendly and like many of us at that time, we didn't know where we were going, the service offered adventure and a chance to escape. A friend of Phillip's - Mike Love, also a Marine Corps vet of Vietnam - told me in a recent e-mail that he would have kicked Phillip's ass if he hadn't gotten killed, because he went into the Marines due to Phillip's encouragement. He was way too young, one of 58,000 who never really had a chance at a real life. Phillip is remembered on the Permian Basin Vietnam Memorial

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall Charlie 1/7 Marines lost five men on 15 Sep 1966: SSgt Joseph H. Sullivan, Dillon, SC (Silver Star) LCpl Phillip A. Brannon, Odessa, TX LCpl Paul W. Fielder, Harvard, NE LCpl John M. Glasser, Beverly, MA LCpl Leonard Witcher, Alton, IL

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019.