John A. Phillips was born on March 17, 1922. He was the son of John Phillips and Julia Bonn Phillips. He was graduated from Norwood high school in 1941. He entered military service Oct. 10, 1942, and received basic training at Camp Robinson, Ark. On Dec. 10, 1942, he was sent to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska where he was stationed until Oct. 10, 1943. Upon his return, he was sent to Laredo, Texas, to gunnery school.

He visited his parents on furlough and upon returning to duty, he went to England, where he had since been stationed. He served in the 753rd Bomber Squadron, 458th Bomber Group (Heavy) as a Staff Sergeant and Top Turret Gunner on the B-24 42-95133 "Lady Jane", Dooley crew.

Lady Jane took off from RAF Horsham St.Faith /AAF Station 123 on November 24, 1944 on a practice mission but fatally crashed due to bad weather. Flying at low level with a 10/10s cloud base at 400-600 feet and poor horizontal visibility the B-24 struck the steeple of St Philip's Church, losing the outer part of the RH wing and RH tail assembly. Those on the ground saw the bomber fly on for about another 1,000 yards, before banking steeply to the right and plunging onto the Barker Street rail depot. There were no casualties on the ground, but all crew members aboard died in the crash.

SSGT Phillips is now buried in the Visitation Cemetery, Norfolk, St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. His name is commemorated on a plaque located at Heigham Street, Norwich, England but his role is inscribed as an Engineer.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, aviation-safety.net