Slain Ardmore GI went 'extra mile'
Slain Ardmore GI went 'extra mile'

By Julie Bisbee
Published: February 26, 2008

ARDMORE — When Pfc. Micheal Phillips was 5 years old, he told his parents he wanted to grow up and be GI Joe.

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Micheal Phillips Ardmore 19-year-old was in the 101st Airborne Division.

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It was no surprise when he decided to join the Army while still in high school and left for basic training shortly after graduation. Phillips knew he would be going to war.

Phillips, 19, died Sunday morning near Baghdad after the vehicle he was in was hit by an explosive device. Phillips was a member of the 101st Airborne based in Fort Campbell, Ky. The other men in the Humvee escaped with minor injuries, said his mother, Anglia Phillips, who was informed of his death Sunday afternoon.

"He was a hero,” she said. "What I've heard from his squad is that he was an excellent soldier who was always trying to improve himself and was always willing to go the extra mile. He's more of a man than most will be.”

Micheal Phillips, who went by the nickname "Pokey,” had written to his family and teachers at Ardmore High School while in Iraq. When he was home on leave, Phillips visited his 18-year-old brother and other students at school.

"He had an infectious smile,” said Jake Falvey, assistant principal at Ardmore High School. "He was an outgoing kid, and you could see the maturity in him; he had grown up quite a bit.

In a recent letter to Falvey, Phillips, a 2006 Ardmore High School graduate, talked about how happy he was to be in the military.

"He had written about how happy he was,” Falvey said. "He said, ‘I'm doing this for me, my family and for America.'”

Phillips is the oldest of four children and was close with his siblings, his mother said.

"We're a really tight-knit family,” she said.

‘He said terrorism was like a virus'

Phillips was an astute student who loved history and ran track and cross country. He excelled at drawing and had been offered admission to the San Francisco Art Institute, his mother said.

But he held duty to country higher, she said.

"He came home one day and said he wanted to join the Army, and we got in the car and went down to the recruiting station,” Anglia Phillips said. "He said terrorism was like a virus. It had to be stopped. It had to be contained.”

She said her son was re-enlisting.

"He had already decided to join up for two more years,” she said. "He didn't want to leave his squad, his guys.”

Plans for a memorial service are pending.