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| Dr. Charles Walter Phillips |
Education: Undergraduate unknown, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (1905)
Birthplace: Montgomery, LA
Parents: Benjamin H. (1846-1914) and Nancy Wheeler (1850-1926) Phillips
Spouses: Cicerine Parker, Ida Bell Williams Nichols
Children: Mae (1909-?), Benjamin (1910-1992), both by Cicerine
Tenure in Oil City: 1913-1917
In 1900, Charles was living in Colfax, LA with his parents and brother Warren. It was noted in 1902 that he was attending medical school in Nashville, TN.
His hometown newspaper announced his graduation from Vanderbilt in April 1905.
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Colfax (LA) Chronicle 15-Apr-1905, Page 4
The following month it was announced he was moving to Natchitoches, LA to begin his medical practice. By the time of the 1910 U. S. Census, he was a resident of Batchelor, LA in Point Coupee Parish near the Mississippi River. Now married, he was living with wife Cicerine, infant daughter Mae, and step-children (Cicerine's) Levere and Margie Huffman. He ran for a place on the Point Coupee police jury in 1911, though whether successful is not known.
No mention of him in 1912 was found, so it is not clear when he moved to Oil City. In September 1913, he was severely burned and originally thought to die as the result of a gas explosion in the drug store in which his office was located. Three others, including his partner Dr. Naum George Nasif, were also injured in the incident that occurred while a plumber was installing gas lighting in the shop.
Shreveport Times 26-Sep-1913, Page 1
An article published the following day reported Dr. Phillips "doing nicely" and it was thought he would recover.
Presumably fully recovered and and again practicing, he was listed as being from Oil City in a list of physicians registered to practice published by the Louisiana State Board of Health in 1917. This was apparently not for the entire year though, as records show he enlisted in the army on 12-Sep-1917. A January 1918 article reporting his being a first lieutenant stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, GA; stated he was from Shreveport, having come from Lenzburg (a defunct oil community near Coushatta, LA).
Later he was reported studying at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City in February, and safely arriving in France in July 1918. There he served as a field surgeon before becoming medical officer for the 5,000 man American Expeditionary Force, North Russia (known as the "Polar Bear Expedition"), a contingent of a greater allied operation. Among the objectives was to prevent Allied war materials from being captured by the Germans, as well as by the Bolsheviks; after Russia had withdrawn from the war and fallen into civil conflict. The Allies were drawn eventually into those hostilities as there turned out to be insufficient numbers of Russians willing side with the "White Army" against the Reds. The Americans exited the conflict in July 1919..
Below is a short documentary about the operation.
A profile of the doctor included in a post-expedition account of the operation (see link further below).
MAJOR CHARLES W. PHILLIPS, Medical Corps, who was only Captain Phillips when he joined the Expedition, was Camp Surgeon at Camp Rochambeau, St. Pierre des Corps, France. He hails from Shreveport, Louisiana and the fact that he has been twice promoted in the A. E. F. speaks for his ability as a medical man.
For heroism in combat, Dr. Phillips received the following citation
From the same Headquarters under date of July 19th, 1919, by General Order No. 11, the following named Officer ..... (was) cited in orders to the command in gallantry in action, under the circumstances mentioned herein.
Major C. W. Phillips, M. C.
In the engagements at Siding 15 and Maselskaya on May 3rd, and 4th, Major Phillips behaved with great gallantry and set an example to the men for daring and personal courage. At Maselskaya this officer dressed the wounds of a British Marine while the enemy's machine gun fire was sweeping across the area over which he had to pass.
He and the others returned to America in August on the USS Calameres
Read a detailed first-hand account of the North Russian Expedition, including photographs, at:
The Arctic Antics of the North Russia Transportation Corps of the U. S. Army; edited by Chaplain John E. Wilson, historical officer (1919)
Once home, Dr. Phillips described his experiences in Russia. He made an accurate assessment that the Bolsheviks could not be defeated without outside help. Of course the communists would win the civil war within that country and establish the Soviet Union, that would last 70 years.
The "Chibenski Mountains" mentioned in the article are likely the Khibiny Mountains (alternately spelled Khibinsky) that are in the area where this military operation took place.
In 1920, Dr. Phillips, Cicerine, Mae, and son Ben were residents of Homer, LA. Per the 1924 advertisement below, he set up his practice in Shreveport, having lived in nearby Haynesville for an unknown time in that town before coming to that city.
When his mother died in 1926, Dr. Phillips was still identified as being of Shreveport. The 1930 census finds the doctor living with son Ben back in Haynesville. Mae would have been 20 by then and presumed married and on her own. He and Cicerine apparently divorced at some point, as per her 1939 obituary she had been a California resident for the last five years of her life. In August 1930 he married Ida Belle Williams Nichols, widow of Henry S. Nichols, who had passed away the prior year. They were in Haynesville during the 1940 census (living with Ida Belle's teen-aged daughters Mary Belle and Anne) and still there when Dr. Phillips registered for the draft during World War II. By 1945, they had relocated to Jeanerette, LA; where it was noted he performed physician examinations on local draftees.
Dr. Phillips passed away 14-Jun-1950. His obituary noted his son Ben, then of New Iberia, was also a doctor.
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