Brigadier General Jim Demarest, an F-15 pilot and the Chief of Staff of the Florida Air National Guard, launched a campaign to honor the late Capt. Stephen Phillis with the Medal of Honor
According to Alert5, Brigadier General Jim Demarest, the chief of staff of the Florida Air National Guard, launched a campaign to honor the late Capt. Stephen Phillis with the Medal of Honor. At the academy, Jim first encountered Stephen Phillis. Given that they were both left-handed boxers or southpaws, they bonded over the sport.
“Steve and I trained a lot together,” explains Demarest to Fox 4 Now. “He ended up being my corner man in a championship bout in about 1980 and that started a friendship that went a bit of a different way. We both went to pilot training. Steve decided he wanted to fly the A-10, I elected to fly the F-15 and so our aviation career paths diverged. Yet, we shared a lot of common experiences in pilot training and the fighter weapons school. Then Steve was activated in August 1990 to kick off Desert Shield and later served in Desert Storm.”
Demarest claims that on February 15, 1991, Steve Phillis and his brand-new wingman Lt. Rob Sweet were assigned the mission of attacking Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guards Division. After executing several successful passes, Sweet’s A-10 was targeted by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). To get away from it, he deployed flares. A second SAM struck him, causing him to lose a piece of his wing and send his aircraft into a steep spiral. After ejecting, Sweet was left hanging over the elite Iraqi armored division he had just finished bombing when his parachute opened.
Steve flew an orbit over the Republican Guard Division to deflect fire from Sweet’s descent. He fired flares to attract attention, making his A-10 a potential target. He realized he would not be returning at that very moment.
“He keys the microphone and using the codeword for the day, transmits ‘Enfield 3-7 is bagged as well,’” says Demarest. “And it’s the last radio transmission he makes, unbeknownst to his family, his fiancée, his friends, his fellow fighter pilots. Moments later he is engaged, shot down, and killed by another Iraqi surface-to-air missile system.”
At that moment, “He didn’t have to stay there,” said Demarest. “He didn’t have to drop flares and make himself a target. He didn’t have to stand over those 10,000 angry troops now emboldened by their success. Yet, the thought of leaving never crossed his mind.”
Steve Phillis made the choice to put the life of his wingman above his own. His heroic deed in his final moments.
“When you look at bravery above and beyond the call of duty, to save a fellow airman, to me- that checks all the boxes that we look for in our Medal of Honor recipients,” Demarest remarks.
The last time a pilot received the Medal of Honor, the most prestigious and highest military medal, was during the Vietnam War.
“So far, there have been no Medals of Honor for any combat bravery for Desert Storm,” says Demarest. “I think it’s time for us to re-look at that and I can think of no more fitting case than that of Captain Steve Phillis.”
It’s a task that Demarest has set for himself to complete, as he explains in the video below. A mission with the desire that Steve’s story endures.
“We’re going to start with a grassroots campaign and see where it goes,” says Demarest. “But I have high hopes that as the word of his heroics gets out, it will get interested from a lot of different outlets and different forms of media to help get the story out to the millions of people who need to hear it.”
Steve’s story is currently being turned into a book by Demarest. Visit his website right here to find out more about his endeavor.
Photo by U.S. Air Force