Jimmy W. Phipps

He covered enemy explosives and saved two Marines from death

Jimmy Wayne Phipps was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1950. He attended school in Culver City and Venice before leaving high school to enlist in January 1968, aged seventeen. After recruit and infantry training in California, he attended technical training in Memphis and the Marine Corps Engineer Schools at Camp Lejeune. Promoted to private first class in October, he went to Vietnam that December with Company B, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division.

On 27 May 1969, near An Hoa, Phipps was working with a two-man demolition team locating and destroying enemy ordnance and concealed firing devices. After using his explosives and blasting caps, he found a 175-millimetre artillery shell in a rice paddy. Suspecting that it was connected to a second explosive charge, he warned the other Marines to take cover and prepared to destroy it using a grenade.

As he fixed the grenade beside the shell, the concealed device's fuse began to burn. His assistant and the platoon commander were only a few metres away. Phipps held the grenade to his chest and threw himself over the other explosives. The detonation killed him but spared both men. His family received his posthumous Medal of Honor from Vice President Spiro Agnew at the White House. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Combat Engineer with Company B, First Engineer Battalion, First Marine Division in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 27 May 1969, Private First Class Phipps was a member of a two-man combat engineer demolition team assigned to locate and destroy enemy artillery ordnance and concealed firing devices. After he had expended all of his explosives and blasting caps, Private First Class Phipps discovered a 175mm high explosive artillery round in a rice paddy. Suspecting that the enemy had attached the artillery round to a secondary explosive device, he warned other Marines in the area to move to covered positions and prepared to destroy the round with a hand grenade. As he was attaching the hand grenade to a stake beside the artillery round, the fuse of the enemy's secondary explosive device ignited. Realizing that his assistant and the platoon commander were both within a few meters of him and that the imminent explosion could kill all three men, Private First Class Phipps grasped the hand grenade to his chest and dived forward to cover the enemy's explosive and the artillery round with his body, thereby shielding his companions from the detonation while absorbing the full and tremendous impact with his own body. Private First Class Phipps' indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and selfless devotion to duty saved the lives of two Marines and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.