The following was written by my great-aunt, Sister Francetta, Philip's sister:

The Marine Returns

For a week before Phil's return from the battlefields of France, Frank went daily to the train station in Madelia to meet his son. One rainy evening, July 3, 1919, Frank, busy in the store, asked "Uncle Henry" Hillesheim to check at the depot. Sure enough, that was the night that Phil came home. Imagine the joy of the father-son reunion!

That night, as the family visited in the living room, Phil could hardly talk. He sat still and tense. Cloaked with the honor of two Silver Stars, he was also heavily burdened with the horrors of that first World War.