WASHINGTON—Dr. Lanier Phillips probably did not imagine getting an award at a black tie dinner when he was a young sailor in World War II. In a segregated Navy, African-Americans like Phillips could only perform menial tasks. But Phillips helped change that.
Phillips and two other veterans won the Lone Sailor Award last week for their career success after the Navy. Comedian Bill Cosby, former professional footballer Eddie LeBaron, and Phillips were recognized for taking the Navy values of honor, courage, and commitment forward into their lives.
Phillips’ remarkable story began at age 18 when he joined the Navy to escape the Jim Crow laws of his home state of Georgia, only to find that the Navy was also segregated and African-American sailors were restricted to work as mess attendants, essentially waiters. Now 87, Phillips credits the discipline and values he learned in the Navy with helping him become a leader. But a shipwreck he survived in World War II played a critical role.
On Feb. 18, 1942 the ship he served on, the USS Truxtun, wrecked along with the USS Pollux off the coast of Newfoundland. Hundreds died. The 186 survivors were rescued and cared for by the villagers of Lawn and St. Lawrence. Phillips was the only African-American who lived.
After he fell into the icy waters, Phillips was covered with crude oil from the ships and came close to dying of hypothermia. A miner’s wife named Violet Pike took him home and cared for him as tenderly as if he were her own son, he said.
Phillips’ daughter, Dr. Vonzia Phillips, a school administrator in Georgia, said after the experience he had a high opinion of the residents of that area.
“One thing was crystal clear and that was his profound respect and admiration and gratitude to the people of St. Lawrence,“ she said. ”He really holds the people of Canada, in general, and the people of St. Lawrence dear to his heart, because he understood that they saw beyond some of the prejudices that he experienced as a young person growing up in the Southern United States.”
Phillips not only had success in his oceanography career, he changed the Navy. After years of service as a mess attendant, he applied to learn a skilled trade, but he was not allowed to enter the training program. Phillips wrote to the Bureau of Navy Personnel and to a congressman. Through his appeal, he won the right to learn. But the confidence to do so came from his brush with death in 1942.
He went on to become the first African-American Navy sonar technician in 1957. After retiring from the Navy he worked for EG&G and the Alvin deepwater submersible team in groundbreaking underwater research. He lives in Washington.
Demetrio Cuzzocrea has the rights to Phillips’ story and is finishing a script for a film.
“What touched me about this story was his open heart,“ said Cuzzocrea. ”And the fact that he couldn’t ignore that these people were just treating him like he was worth something.”
“There is something new about that angle. Stories of prejudice and racism have been told before. So, what is new about this story, that it deserves to be told -- there is a magical quality to how it all unfolded, and how he let these people take care of him. And there was this moment of enlightenment so deep that even after another 18 years in the Navy [he pushed forward].”
The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation presented the awards at the National Building Museum. Rear Adm. Edward Walker, president and CEO of the U.S. Navy Memorial foundation, said that those honored were successful outside of the Navy and were vocal in attributing their successes to the values the Navy had instilled in them. The Mayor of St. Lawrence, Wayde Rowsell, attended the ceremony.
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