[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 23 (Monday, February 6, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E278-E279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            A TRIBUTE TO PHILLIP L. WILLIS, AN AMERICAN HERO

                                 ______


                            HON. JOHN BRYANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 1995
  Mr. BRYANT of Texas. Mr. Speaker, one can tell a lot about a man by 
what he chooses to do with his life. And Phillip LaFrance Willis was an 
American hero who chose to live his to the fullest.
  This much decorated veteran of World War II died of leukemia on 
Friday, January 27, 1994, at his home in Dallas.
  Phil Willis, major, U.S. Air Force, retired. That is how he will be 
best remembered. And that is the way he would want to be remembered.
  At daybreak on December 8, 1941--the morning after the day of 
infamy--23-year-old Second Lieutenant Willis, wearing his cowboy boots 
as he patroled a beach near Pearl Harbor, captured America's first 
enemy prisoner of World War II.
  Until his retirement as a 28-year-old major as a result of combat 
injuries in 1946, Phil Willis served with distinction as a B-17 bomber 
pilot through the Battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, the Coral Sea, New 
Guinea, and New Britain.
  In 52 missions, he was credited with sinking four ships, including 
one of Japan's largest troop transports, and a submarine and shooting 
down eight enemy aircraft. He walked away from two downed bombers in 
the Pacific without losing a crewmember
  His service earned him more than 20 decorations, making him among the 
most decorated Texas pilots of the war and winning him a place in the 
Army Air Corps Hall of Fame at Brooks Field in San Antonio.
  Born in Kaufman County, TX, on August 2, 1918, Phil Willis did not 
confine his patriotism to military service.
  Throughout his 76 years, Phil Willis was devoted to his country, his 
community, and his fellow citizens. Whether in uniform, in appointed or 
elective public office, in community and veterans organizations, or in 
private life, he was devoted to public service. Loyalty always guided 
him.
  While working to earn his 1948 undergraduate degree from North Texas 
State University, now the University of North Texas, the young veteran 
was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from Kaufman County, 
where he served two terms.
  Simultaneously elected to the Texas Legislature, Phil and his 
brother, Doyle Willis, who continues to serve with distinction, are the 
only two brothers to have served together in the Texas House of 
Representatives.
  Phil Willis also served as a member of the San Antonio Zoning and 
Planning Commission and was a Texas Centennial Statehood Commissioner. 
As a real estate broker, builder, and developer, he was always active 
in professional and business affairs.

[[Page E279]]

  He was named Man of the Year by the San Antonio Jaycees in 1951 and 
was tirelessly devoted to veterans affairs, particularly through the 
Veterans of Foreign Wars of which he was a life member and which 
honored him for distinguished service in 1958 and elevated him to 
National Aide-de-Camp that year.
  Phil Willis served as president, chaplain, and trustee of his chapter 
of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and served as its 
representative to the Greater Dallas Veterans Council.
  A 32d Decree Scottish Rite Mason, he was active in raising funds for 
the Shrine Crippled Children's Hospital.
  He was proud to be a member of the Sons of the Republic of Texas and 
the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and he earned accolades as an award 
winning chili cook.
  Phil Willis was devoted to his family--his wife of 51 years, Marilyn 
Stubblefield Willis, his daughters, Linda Pipes and Rosemary Roach, and 
his four grandchildren--his church, and his friends.
  He was a good yellow dog Democrat who served as a precinct election 
judge. In fact, his memorial service program proclaims that he was a 
``proud, conservative Sam Rayburn Democrat.''
  Phillip L. Willis, major, USAF, retired, a man who served his country 
and community exceeding well, a man of humor and good will who enjoyed 
life and those he lived it with, a man described appropriately, and 
with humor in that memorial program as ``A myth of a man--he didn't 
myth much.''
  Phil Willis, patriot and friend, we will miss you.
  

                          ____________________