Sunday, July 19, 2015

Military Monday - SGT Herbert S. Phillips

SGT Herbert S. Phillips - Simonstown Cemetery, Greentown, PA
Not a part of my Phillips family. At least as far as I know. Greentown is too far from Hazleton and Phillips too common a name for me to try to make any connection. I was plotting/photographing the legible tombstones in Simonstown Cemetery on BillionGraves and I saw this tombstone and just wanted to share it.

I have to start out by saying that I was so terribly disappointed in how Simonstown Cemetery was being taken care of, but I'm not going to go too far into detail about that. I've got pictures and plan on writing up another post. I hadn't brought anything with me to clean/dust off any tombstones. I really need to get a cemetery kit together and keep it in my car right next to my camera bag and hiking gear. As it was I had a walking stick with me and that was all. The tombstones are all getting overgrown and covered in lichen. I've seen a big change in just over the past 5 years and I wanted to share this before it become completely unreadable.

"SGT Herbert S. Phillips
Co. M. 393rd Regt. 99th Div.
Born Nov. 8, 1913
Killed in Action in Belgium
Dec. 17, 1944
At rest in
U.S. Military Cemetery, Belgium
Son of
Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Phillips"

Rest in Peace, SGT Phillips. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

2 comments:

  1. Good for you for making sure an image of this headstone is available. More than a few members of my boyfriend's family are buried in a fairly large cemetery that has some very old headstones. Although the grounds are well-kept, they don't clean stones and some are already illegible. I really have to bring my camera next visit and to help those who may come looking when it is too late. I also need to put together a cemetery kit for my car!

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    1. It's one of the reasons I really like BillionGraves and FindAGrave. The photos and information can be shared there and BillionGraves keeps the grid coordinates so people can walk right up to the grave...even once the stone is too deteriorated to read. It is sad to see stones in that condition though. Thanks for commenting!

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