Image
Details
Title
Phillip Bernard Reilly.
Date
1940 - 1949
Date (Text)
1940'S
MSS Number (Local Identifier)
050-007-101
Subject (Topic)
Type
Still Image
Dimensions
Naval Training Center photograph. Naval Training Center photograph. 26 x 52 cm.
File Format
jpeg
Repository
Local History and Genealogy Center, Warren-Trumbull County Public Library
Note
Phillip Bernard Reilly was born on June 11, 1919 in Coalton, West Virginia, the son of William Reilly and Lilly (Watts) Reilly, who ran a boarding house for local coal miners. Phillip attended school until the 8th grade, after which he went to work in the mines. On December 30, 1939 Phillip and his then girlfriend Josephine eloped to Monterey, Virginia, and then relocated to Warren for Phillip to find work. Their first child, Constance, was born on December 20, 1940. When the war broke out Phillip returned to West Virginia to enlist. Josephine and Connie split their time during the war years between her parents in Warren, and with his parents in West Virginia. Their second daughter, Kathryn, was born on June 13, 1947 (d. May 14, 2012. Josephine died on November 29, 2000 in Warren.
Phillip was ordered to report to the Navy on April 25, 1944. He trained at the Great Lakes Naval Station for five weeks and then went to Fort Pierce for his amphibious training. Phillip was assigned to the USS Shoshone, a Tolland-class attack cargo ship designed to carry military cargo and landing craft. From Saipan the Shoshone transported troops and cargo for the invasion of Iwo Jima, where Phillip observed the historic raising of the flag on February 23, 1945. During the invasion of Okinawa Phillip watched kamikaze hits on four nearby ships. The war ended while the crew of the Shoshone moved occupational troops to Japan. Phillip ended his service on December 27, 1945, having been awarded the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal with two stars.
Following the war Phillip trained as an auto mechanic at the Chicago Motive Trades Institute on the GI Bill, graduating in 1948. After returning to Warren, he and his cousin opened a small auto shop, but the venture fell through and he then worked at various jobs, including Packard Electric, until finding a position at Van Huffel Tube, where he remained for thirty years as a slitter operator. He retired in 1982. Phillip died on April 12, 2013 at Windsor House in Champion, and is buried beside Josephine in Crown Hill Cemetery, Vienna.
Gift of Connie Jones.
Owner
Connie Jones
Record Appears in