Philip A. Russell was born on February 5, 1921. He entered the military service in New York. On the day Phil went to sign up for the Navy, and checked in with the Marines, he started his six-mile walk home. On the way, he saw the image of a paratrooper drifting down from a plane on a billboard ad for Fro-Joy ice cream. And in that moment Phil made his decision: He turned right around and enlisted as a paratrooper. He served in the U.S. Army during the Normandy Invasion of World War II as a Private First Class in C Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. When he was dropped out of an airplane on D-Day during World War II in 1944, Phil Russell landed 10 miles from where should have been. Hitting ground amid a herd of cows, he also had damaged both his legs because the plane had dropped him at too low an altitude.

Then, in September 1944, Phil was dropped into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. Phil became a Sergeant and Squad Leader, responsible for 12 to 13 men, in the attempt to get Allied forces across the Rhine river into Germany. The mission was unsuccessful and at one point Phil was shot in the hand, returning only briefly to an English hospital.

In December of 1944, Phil's company's leave was cancelled and they were rushed into the Battle of the Bulge, the final Axis offensive on the western front.

Fighting in the challenging forest terrain of the Ardennes, Phil and the 101st Airborne defended the critical Belgian village of Bastogne. Finally, after Christmas, General George S. Patton's Third Army was able to penetrate Bastogne. Phil and his company followed behind Patton as he continued his march into Germany. They helped Patton secure villages and towns along the way. When they reached Berchtesgaden — location of Hitler’s retreat home known as the Eagle’s Nest — Phil heard on a little radio that the war was over. After spending several months at the Eagle's Nest, Phil was able to return to Binghamton.

After the war, Phil lived in Conklin Forks with where he raised five children, three daughters and two sons, said Phil's son Daniel "Dan" Russell, who now lives in North Carolina.
Philip Russell, 95, died on April 10, 2016 his ashes will be interred in a Hallstead, PA cemetery.

Source of information: https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/connections/life-lived/2016/04/27/kirkwood-man-95-d-day-paratrooper/83476610/