Richard Bowie Phillips was born in 1921 in Ashe County, North Carolina. He resided in Ashe County, North Carolina prior to the war.

He enlisted in the Army on April 22, 1944, at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a sheet metal worker and also as Single, without dependents.

Richard served as a Sergeant and Tail Gunner on the B-17 #43-38701, 850th Bomber Squadron, 490th Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. B-17G 43-38701 took off from Eye in Suffolk on the morning of April 19, 1945, on a mission to bomb the marshaling yards at Aussig in Czechoslovakia. After successfully releasing their bombs they were attacked and shot down by German aircraft just south of Dresden, Germany. Their plane was hit at the starboard wing and set the fuel tanks and two engines ablaze. 2nd Lt. Trojanowski, Sgt. Dole and S/Sgt. Lesh were the only members of the ten-man crew that managed to bail out of the burning aircraft. The other crew members perished when the airplane exploded in mid-air, and the wreckage fell to earth in fields between the villages of Hradišťko, Sestrouň, and Zberaz, some 45 km south of Prague.

Sgt Phillips is now buried in the Hampton National Cemetery, Hampton, Hampton City, Virginia, USA, in the same grave with 2Lt Snyder.

B-17 #43-38701 crew:
Snyder, Paul A ~ 2nd Lt, Pilot, OH Stewart, Ross E., Jr. ~ 2nd Lt, Co-Pilot, NY Dole, Lyle E. ~ Sgt, Engineer, WA Langley, George B., Jr. ~ Sgt, Ball Turret Gunner, NJ Lesh, Wilbur L. ~ S/Sgt, Jammer, MO Phillips, Richard B. ~ Sgt, Tail Gunner, NC Stauffer, Wayne W. ~ Sgt, Radio Operator, PA Trojanowski, Joseph A. ~ 2nd Lt, Bombardier, MA Wilson, William ~ F/O, Navigator, MD Zuendel, William G., Jr. ~ Sgt, Waist Gunner, OH

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, aircrewremembered.com