Lt. Col Henry A. "Pep" McPhillips Jr.

Lt. Col Henry A. "Pep" McPhillips, Jr. (USAF Ret) of Fairhope, Alabama, passed away on January 26, 2026, with his wife Patricia at his side.

Pep was the son of the late Col Henry A. McPhillips (USAF Ret) and Mrs. Katherine White McPhillips of Mobile, Alabama. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 25, 1947, and spent his early years in Mobile and over the Bay. With his father, he travelled all over the world, living in Okinawa, Honolulu, Hawaii (where they attended the Hawaii Statehood festivities with the Governor of Hawaii in 1959), Oklahoma and Montgomery, AL, where he graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in 1966.

Pep attended the Citadel – the Military College of South Carolina – graduating in June 1970 with a B.S. in Political Science and a commission as a 2 nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. He went to Pilot Training at Big Springs TX and then went to Vietnam as a FAC (Forward Air Controller) flying an O-2. On Mother's Day 1972, he was shot down by an SA-7 missile, jumping out the door (no ejection seats in the O-2) and landing in a rice paddy. Luckily the good guys got to him first and he wound up serving as a ground FAC in an underground Army bunker for six days during the Battle of An Loc. For this mission Pep was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart.

In 1979, he transitioned to the A-10, a plane that he loved, flying with the 365 th Tactical Fighter Squadron (the Green Demons) at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as well as 9 th AF at Shaw AFB, South Carolina. Later Pep flew the OV-10 both at Eielson AFB, Alaska and the 21 st TASS at Shaw AFB (the squadron where he began his AF career). Pep retired from the Air Force in 1990 after 20 years and then spent the next 23 years as a golf tournament rules official, tournament director for the FSGA, the SCGA, the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championship and others. He loved golf with a passion and played excellent golf himself, even beating USAF General Pete Semler at the age of 13 in the Chiang Kai-Shek Open in Okinawa during a typhoon.

Pep is survived by his wife of almost 38 years, Patricia S. Vanderburg McPhillips of Fairhope, AL; and a multitude of cousins all over Mobile and Alabama.

At his request, there will be no formal service. His ashes will be placed in the columbarium at the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort, AL.

Hughes Funeral Home, 26209 Pollard Road, Daphne, AL, is assisting the family.