These are photos of Charles "Doc" Phillips, a Chattanooga veteran who served in World War II, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam. He died earlier this month at 93 years of age. The woman in one of the photos is his wife, Janet Phillips. Right now, I believe the feature is running Monday. 
These are photos of Charles "Doc" Phillips, a Chattanooga veteran who served in World War II, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam. He died earlier this month at 93 years of age. The woman in one of the photos is his wife, Janet Phillips. Right now, I believe the feature is running Monday. 
These are photos of Charles "Doc" Phillips, a Chattanooga veteran who served in World War II, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam. He died earlier this month at 93 years of age. The woman in one of the photos is his wife, Janet Phillips. Right now, I believe the feature is running Monday. He relived most of the memories through his dreams. But five months before his death, career military officer Charles "Doc" Phillips finally shared 75 years of stored-up thoughts on war.
Phillips, a dedicated father of six and an area veteran, served in three wars - in World War II's Pacific Theater, Korea and Vietnam. He died at 93 on Oct. 9.
Though he believed in unrelenting civic duty, Phillips also viewed war as a failure of humankind when nations had to fight so violently against each other.
"Not harming people was his No. 1 criteria," said Rebecca Phillips Abbott, his oldest daughter. "I'd say that's unusual for a military officer."
Phillips joined the Marine Corps before the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
On that day, the 18-year-old was stationed at Midway Island, where he saw the carnage that helped propel the U.S. to victory in the South Pacific.
Especially grueling was November 1943, when Phillips returned to Midway Island after a brief trip home and learned that 3,200 allies had died after three days of fighting.
Those memories hid inside him for years, stalking Phillips in the middle of the night. Until the end of his life, he rarely discussed his nightmares, family members said.
During World War II, Phillips was transported in an old coal delivery boat, where he and four or five other officers slept on top of each other because there were no beds.
Phillips got dengue fever and malaria, and endured brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Though he was never officially wounded in combat, Phillips worked as a machine gunner on the front lines of the war and witnessed several explosions. As late as 1968, Phillips was picking shrapnel out of his leg from those battles.
After World War II, Phillips switched to the Army, rising to the rank of colonel amid tours in Korea and Vietnam.
Phillips always loved wintertime - he said the summer heat reminded him of the South Pacific. And as he grew older and developed health problems, he couldn't stand MRI scans because they reminded him of the horrible sleeping conditions on that boat.
Diana Phillips, a local attorney, remembered her father's landscape photos: the mountainsides, the blades of grass, even the obscure angles from inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., that looked onto the Washington Monument.
Rebecca Phillips remembered her father showing her the inside of a darkroom when she was 10 and buying her a photo developing kit.
Whether Phillips knew, in those moments, that he was inspiring her future career as an abstract photographer and art curator in Washington was beyond the point.
That's just who "Doc" - a nickname he picked up at Cornell University after the war - was, family members say.
Phillips also was a Civil War buff and scholar, which factored into his decision to move the family to Chattanooga from Fort Knox, Ky., in 1974.
He often visited Antietam, scene of a horrific battle in September 1862. It was one of his favorite skirmishes.
During one family trip to the field, though, Phillips noticed a monument that his research told him was in the wrong place.
"They looked it up," said Janet Phillips, his wife of 67 years, "and he was right."
Janet and Charles married in 1949 at Fort Knox and used to write each other every day while he served overseas.
Sometime this spring, Doc will have a funeral with full military honors and a 21-gun salute in the Arlington National Cemetery. His family members don't know the exact date yet.
But they know he'd be proud of that accomplishment.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow on Twitter @zackpeter son918.