My wonderful co-author is always on the ball. Within no time, she had the core of this article ready. She's a team player, whom I can never thank enough for the great work she does, here, for the Troops, and in educating Our Kids & Nation.
Tonight WOTN interviewed Gold Star Mom, Mrs. Angelia Phillips, by way of Twitter. Thanks to Twitter Deck & TwitterChat WOTN Room, we were able to follow along easily.
Mrs. Phillips shared with a few precious insights about her son, Army Spc Micheal Phillips. Spc Phillips, also known as "Pokey" had a love of history, was fascinated by storms and had a wonderful sense of humor. "He won the DMOR (distinguished member of regiment) for keeping up morale." said Mrs. Phillips. In fact his sense of humor was so great that quite often his Captain even had to go and hide in order to laugh at the antics occurring.
Mrs. Phillips can be found on Twitter by searching for "Knottienature." When asked how she or why she
chose that name she replied, "I crochet. My kids called it mom being knottie. So I went with it" Of course, who started the teasing?? You got it, Pokey!
Micheal came home one day from High School, and announced that he was joining the Army. He was 17 and a senior in high school at the time. "He hated bullies and saw the terrorsit as bullies. He also loved and knew history well. He saw that we had been fighting this for over 30 years and it was time to stop appeasing them."
Just how did Mrs. Phillips handle this announcement? She drove him to the recruiters! "The Army was good for him. He grew up a lot." Then came the day when the Army drove up to their home. Their other son was home and called his mom to tell her the Army had come. Instantly she knew! What I didn't expect to hear Mrs. Phillips say was this......
"Our first question was if anyone else had been hurt. thankfully no one had been seriously, minor injuries but the rest were ok."
In spite of hearing how seriously injured their son was, they cared enough to immediately ask about the other men! That speaks highly of the relationship Mrs. Phillips' family had with his group. As the day progressed, emails started coming in from his brothers (his military buddies). They were concerned about the family, how were they doing?
Brothers to Micheal, they now call his mom "Momma" and many still stay in close contact with each other. Care packages are sent, emails and phone calls exchanged and they even lean on Momma for another source of support. They are able to "vent" to her, about "girlfriends, new babies, money problems. You name it. They needed me to be ok. Once they knew I would be ok, it was safer for them." Momma had faced "her worst fear" and understood better than you or I the need for this venting.
Oklahoman women are strong in spirit and humble. She continues to claim she does nothing special despite her tireless work. Despite being quite clear she'll not disparage any Gold Star Mother, one was instrumental in a promise she made Pokey.
WOTN, the stubborn shiner of spotlights, drove home that sometimes "just doing our jobs" is above and beyond the norm by pointing to the medic who "just did his job," but remains a hero in her eyes. This is not just a story of a Great Mom, but her Company of Sons, her awesome Son, and the Company he kept. We didn't find out what led Cliff to say "Mom's don't fight fair," but everytime the spotlight fell on Mrs. Phillips, she used her mirror to deflect it on others instead.
Nor did we find out about her plans to steal CPT Ussery's dog, though we did learn he made himself available, but not intrusive, to answer any questions she had. And the Lieutenant Colonel himself calls her "momma."
"Honestly though I never thought he would be killed. Hurt maybe but I just knew I had to go into Mom mode and send support via carepackages and be here when he called or IM'd to listen to and assure him." "Honestly we only touched on him actually dying one time. The day they did wills. He told me what to do if... and I have done it"
Mrs. Phillips gave us some invaluable advice. When faced with the prospect of talking to a parent or family member who has lost a loved one, Talk to them! There is that awful vacuum that occurs in the days following the funeral, where people feel it is best to leave you alone. "It's as simple as "Hello. Wanna go for coffee?" Saying nothing at all is worse than saying the wrong thing almost." However, the following comments are truly not helpful, Mrs. Phillips said.
"You can't forget. The pain and emptiness becomes a part of you. But as hurt, and sad and empty I am that proud of my son too!"
Since the death of Micheal, Mrs. Phillips has continued to support her "new sons" with care packages, she gets the word out about all the wonderful things our military Chandlerswatch.com is doing and by writing a blog http://www.knottiesniche.blogspot.com/. She writes articles for and hosts a radio show and helps at www.freedomisnotfree.com
"The day he came home we had t-storms. He was saying he was home. The next night 8 inches of snow, his baby brother's fav. The next day, the day of the funeral we had 70+ degree weather." That was Pokey's way of letting her know he is okay, and around.
Mrs. Phillips has begun working on an article for us,which will be up when it is ready. It is not an easy topic for her to write about, but she is willing to do so in order to help others. When up, it will be added to the Twitterview category and to "reader faves" page as well as be given its own category for quick reference.
Thank You, Mrs. Phillips for allowing us a peek into your family and for sharing your precious memories of Michael with us tonight. He is a hero, and as Mrs. Phillips also stated, so are the other men who were there that day as well as all who wear the uniform.
Stumble It!
