Genealogical Research. Presently creating and editting books of various family lines.
Other Comments:
After Retirement from the Navy in 1971, moved with family to Eagle River, Alaska. In 1972 began attending college in Anchorage, Alaska studying Surveying Technology. Earned an AAS Degree in 1974. Workded part time during this period as an Instrument Man for a private survey firm in Anchorage, Alaska.
1974 Moved to Chiloquin, Oregon, began attending the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) at Klamath Falls, Ore., studying Civil Engineering.
Summer 1975 returned to Alaska as a Coop Student Survey Technician for the office of the Alaska Bureau of Land Management. Surveyed the Alaska Native Villiage Townsite of Holy Cross, on the Yukon River, - employing Airborne Control Survey techniques, which used Helicopters to drop survey monuments at the intersection of predetermined angles and distances from set control positions on the ground. Once a week, went to the position of the survey monuments that had been dropped and moved and set them at the proper point for the corner of the section(s).
Returned to Oregon and OIT, attended classes for one semester and dropped out of College.
Worked for a while as a survey technician for an Engineering Firm in Klamath Falls.
1976-1977 Built our home on the Agency Lake, near Chiloquin, Ore.
1977 returned to OIT, continued studies full time, carrying from 12-21 Credits per term - 1979 Graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering.
Took a Job with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Santa Fe, NMex. as a Professional Surveyor. Went from Santa Fe to Denver, Colorado, to Grand Junction Colorado where I was in charge of a survey project office, to Denver, Colorado where I was a Survey Reviewer, to Gallup, NMex. where I was Project Manager of the Navajo Indian Reservation Surveys, to Phoenix, Az. where I was the GCDB Section Chief.
I retired at the BLM State Office in Phoenix, Az. in 1993. During my career as a Professional Surveyor for the U.S. Governement, I progressed up the ladder from GS-7 to GM-13.
I eventually moved back to the state of my birth, where my wife and I now live in retirement.
Remembrance Profiles -
1 Sailor Remembered
Philips, Phil, CPO
First Taiwan Strait Crisis (China)
From Month/Year
February / 1954
To Month/Year
February / 1955
Description The First Taiwan Strait Crisis (also called the 1954–1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Formosa Crisis, the Offshore Islands Crisis or the 1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis) was a brief armed conflict that took place between the governments of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC), which by then fled and was based in Taiwan. The PRC seized the Yijiangshan Islands, forcing the ROC to abandon the Tachen Islands. The United States and the ROC Navies joined forces to evacuate ROC military personnel and civilians from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan. Though the Tachen Islands changed hands during the crisis, American news reports focused almost exclusively on the Kinmen and Matsu islands, which were the sites of frequent artillery duels.
The Chinese Civil War had receded in scale in 1949, with Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) government and 1.3 million supporters abandoning the Chinese mainland and relocating the national government to the island of Taiwan (also known as Formosa). While hostilities in western and southwestern China continued, the territory under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China was effectively reduced to Taiwan, the Pescadores, and several island groups along the coast of southeastern China. Hainan island fell to the Communists in April 1950 and the Choushan islands were evacuated by the Nationalists in May 1950, even before the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
The Matsu and Kinmen island groups, situated in the Taiwan Strait just off the coast of the Chinese mainland, were the Nationalists' first line of defense against the Communist Party of China and were heavily fortified by Chiang. The islands off the shore of Zhejiang province were seen as a foothold to recover the mainland and housed the reduced provincial government of Chiang's native province.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1955
To Month/Year
February / 1955
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember Officer's & Crew of the USS LSMR-525
Memories Ship was providing protection from the Chinese Communist Government for the Evacuation of the peoples of Tachen Islands. Our patrol sector was the closest, of all ships of the Task Force, to the Chinese Mainland.
