Captain Charles Thomas Phillips USN

Captain Charles Thomas Phillips, USN Charles Thomas Phillips was born February 27, 1928 to Fred and Eurah Phillips in Murray, Kentucky. Charles loved flying, and his first love was flying the F4U-5N Corsair. Chuck loved the Navy, but he never intended the Navy to be a career. It's just that the Navy always gave him interesting jobs. Chuck joined the Navy in 1946 as a "Flying Midshipmen" (commonly known as the “Holloway Plan" named after Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel Rear Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr.) to learn to fly and to avoid being drafted by the Army for Occupation Duty in Germany. Prior to Navy Flight Training Charles was sent to Ohio State University under the Naval Aviation College Program (NACP). After Charles received his "Golden Wings" of a Naval Aviator in November, 1949 he served in VF-174 in Jacksonville, Florida operating aboard the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), and VF-43 as Asst. Maintenance Officer. As VF-43 Asst. Maintenance Officer, Charles often volunteered to check out new Corsair aircraft prior to Navy acceptance of the aircraft. In November, 1950, taking off on a test "hop", the F4U Corsair exploded, and crashed in the woods at the end of the Cecil Field runway. Charles managed to escape from the aircraft just before the belly tank exploded, showering the Florida pine forest with burning gasoline. Charles suffered Third Degree burns over 70% of his body. Charles was hospitalized at Bethesda Naval Hospital where he met the second love of his life, Florence Bryant, a navy nurse. Florence looked past his scars and saw a man that had a love for God and his country, loved to fly and had a great sense of humor. They were married on December 5th, 1953. December 5th, 2010 would have been their 57th anniversary. He has three sons (Kenneth, Richard, John) and one daughter (Elaine). Pretty amazing for a man who was told he was sterile (from his crash). God had plans for him. While Charles was in the various Navy hospitals, he was worried his burns and other injuries were so severe, the Doctors might not give 100% effort to get him back to Flying Status. Thus was coined one of Charles' signature phrases. Whenever someone asked "How are you today Charles?" Check responded cheerily "I'm the Best!� It must have worked since Charles was recertified for Flying Status! Another popular admonition Charles had been "If you can't be smart, be lucky!� All through his Naval and business career, Charles would always insist that his success were not his fault, but the results of the great people he worked with. The funny thing about luck is, you have to be smart enough to recognize the opportunity, and prepared enough to take advantage of your luck when it comes your way. Even while recovering at Bethesda, Charles finagled ways to fly, training and certifying Naval Aviators at NAS Anacostia. Charles could not fly fighter jets (due to his facial scars), but continued to do what he loved best, flying transports out of Moffett field in VR05 and Anti-Submarine Warfare out of Brunswick, Maine flying P2V's with VP-23 (Fleet Air Wing Three). After getting his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School (in Monterey, CA) Charles was the Project Manager for the development of the electronic suite for the S-3 Viking carrier base ASW aircraft (on time and under budget!). After getting his M.A. in Computer Science and Operations Analysis from American University (in Washington D.C), Charles was sent to Pensacola, FL to design a new Naval Air Training Flight syllabus that would decrease flight training cost by 40% (and preventing Congress from handing over all Naval Primary and Secondary flight training to the Air Force!). From Florida, the Navy sent Charles (and family) to San Diego where he was Commanding Office of the new Navy Computer Center (DPSCPAC) on North Island where he oversaw the merging of six existing computer centers into a single computer center. Charles retired from the Navy in July, 1976. Charles was always a strong proponent of education. He believed that if you had an education you could succeed at doing anything you wanted to do. While in the Navy he earned a BS in Math and Physics from Ohio State University, and Engineering Electronics from the Naval Postgraduate School. He earned a Masters in Computer Science and Operations Analysis at American University. After leaving the Navy he went to law school at Thomas Jefferson Law School, and passed the California Bar on his first try. Charles enjoyed teaching, and took every opportunity he could, whether in Sunday school, class mates or teaching at local Junior Colleges. On the day Charles went home after retiring from the Navy, his wife, Florence, told him "You're not going to sit around here all day, and do nothing - Get a Job!� So Charles went out and got himself a job. First as a Real Estate Broker and Property Manager in La Mesa, CA. Second as a Tax Attorney in El Cajon, CA, and finally Charles was the owner of Chama Corporation, a computer software company which wrote College Administration software, including Admissions, Registration, Business Office, Alumni Development and Payroll Systems. Charles volunteered his time working with the San Diego Blood Bank, San Diego Burn Institute and Kiwanis in (where he eventually served as President of the Spring Valley Kiwanis). Finally Charles really retired in 1998, purchased a motor home and, with Florence traveled the highways and byway of North America visiting Alaska, Canada and several trips to the East Coast. After six year of RVing, Charles and Florence settled down in Sun City West (near Phoenix, AZ) in 2004. They moved back to California in 2008 to be closer to their three sons and grandchildren. Chuck and Flo joined the community at California Veterans Home - Barstow in the summer of 2009.