1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Issac Phillips

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

Isaac C. Phillips - Company D, 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

1943-1945

Curtis Phillips

Binche, Belgium Sunday March 12, 1945

Isaac C. Phillips, better known as Curtis, served with Company D of the 22nd Infantry
in World War II. After the war he married and settled down in Belgium.
The 1st Battalion website was contacted by Xavier Van Daele, a Belgian citizen who met and became friends with Curtis.
Xavier told us how Curtis had lost touch with his fellow buddies from World War II.
and how he would very much like to get in contact with any of them,
to share old memories and renew the friendship and camraderie they knew during the war.

Curtis was born in Georgia on June 10, 1924. His mother died when he was very young, and he was raised
by his father, along with four brothers and two sisters. He worked on the family farm until he entered the US Army
on November 29, 1943. He was trained in infantry heavy weapons, including mortars, bazooka and heavy machine gun.

On May 2, 1944 he departed for England, arriving there on May 16. What little time he spent in England
was occupied with more training, until, on June 3, 1944 he embarked with the 4th Infantry Division
headed for France. He landed in the second wave on Utah beach, on D-Day June 6, 1944,
as part of Company D, 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Regiment. He fought as a machine gunner
in the drive to capture Cherbourg, in Operation Cobra ( the break-out from Normandy ),
the drive to Paris, and into Belgium.

Curtis was wounded three times, and on September 27, 1944, in the fighting along the Sigfried Line,
he received serious wounds from artillery fire, which caused him to be evacuated from the front lines.
He was in a coma in the hospital for 2 or 3 weeks, and when he awoke from the coma
it was some time before he regained his speech. His wounds kept him in the rear echelon
for the remainder of the war. In Binche, Belgium he met Arlette HAUTMONT, his future wife. After the war
they lived in the US for one year, before moving permanently to Belgium, where they have lived ever since.

Binche, Belgium April 15, 1945

Curtis and Arlette

Binche, Belgium 1945

Isaac Curtis Phillips

Curtis' military service mementos

Curtis' separation paper

Curtis' medal certificates

Alain Duez with Curtis

Alain Duez and Xavier Van Daele have been active in helping Curtis to regain contact with his former buddies,
and have been posting info about Curtis on a website in Europe. You may view that website
by clicking on the following banner: