Muriel Phillips
{{short description|American veteran (1921–2022)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Muriel Phillips
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Muriel Rose Phillips
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|01|12}}[https://www.museumofthebigbend.com/project/muriel-engelman/ Museum of the Big Bend: Muriel Engelman]
| birth_place = Meriden, Connecticut, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|06|30|1921|01|12}}
| death_place = Laguna Woods, California, U.S.
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Nurse
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Melvin Engelman
(died 2020)
}}
Muriel Rose Phillips (January 12, 1921 – June 30, 2022) was an American military veteran, writer, and public speaker who was widely recognised for her service as a United States Army nurse during World War II.{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.68748/transcript?ID=sr0001|title=Interview Transcript: Muriel Rose Phillips Engelman: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress|publisher=}}
Wartime service
= Enlistment =
Phillips was in her final year of nurse training at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when Pearl Harbor was bombed.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago|publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n210 204]}} Immediately after finishing her training, Phillips enlisted in the armed services as an army nurse. Her army training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, was even more rigorous than nursing training: she endured hours of drills, 15-mile hikes, classroom study of diseases, and crawling under live ammunition.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n211 205]}}
= Deployment =
Phillips was deployed for Great Britain, and served in Wales for six months. After this, her assignment was moved to the English Channel to care for those wounded after the invasion of Normandy.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n212 206]}} The mission of Phillips's unit was to set up a tent hospital outside of Liége, Belgium to treat Allied soldiers. Work in a field tent was difficult at best. The nurses worked without running water or electricity, and the dirt floors of the tents often turned to mud.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n214 208]}}
After a month at Liége, the Germans began a bombing campaign to destroy railroad tracks nearby. Bombs came roughly every fifteen minutes for two straight months, sometimes falling on parts of the tent hospital.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n215 209]}} Despite the horrors of work on the battlefield, Phillips got much satisfaction from treating the GIs.
= The Battle of the Bulge =
In December 1944, with the Battle of the Bulge, the hospital became even more crowded and busy. Phillips's hospital was one of the closest to the fighting lines.{{cite web|url=https://battleofthebulge.org/2016/04/07/warriors-turned-worriers-by-muriel-phillips-engelman-16th-general-hospital/|title=Warriors Turned Worriers, by Muriel Phillips Engelman, 16th General Hospital|last=admin|publisher=}} The oncoming German forces were particularly threatening for Phillips, as she was Jewish.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n216 210]}} On Christmas Eve, the Germans were only ten miles from Liége, and the hospital began the evacuation procedure. The hospital where Phillips worked was specifically targeted, and many servicemen and women died due to German antipersonnel bombs.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n217 211]}} Phillips survived the Battle of the Bulge, and the war ended months later.
After the war
Phillips and the entire hospital unit were awarded a European Theater ribbon and medal for their service, as well as three battle stars. Phillips was finally discharged in January 1946 as a first lieutenant.
In 2008, Phillips published her memoirs, Mission Accomplished: Stop the Clock which included eleven chapters dedicated to her wartime experiences.{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago |publisher=Chicago Review Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781556529610 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n218 212]}}Engleman, Muriel P. Mission Accomplished, Stop the Clock: A Personal Memoir. New York: iUniverse, Inc, 2008. {{ISBN|9780595481101}}
Phillips was awarded the Legion of Honour, France's highest honor.[https://www.ocregister.com/2018/07/26/75-years-later-a-laguna-woods-woman-receives-frances-highest-honor-for-her-world-war-ii-service/ 75 years later, a Laguna Woods woman receives France’s highest honor for her World War II service] Her husband, Melvin Engelman, predeceased her in 2020, aged 99.[https://obits.ocregister.com/obituaries/orangecounty/obituary.aspx?n=melvin-engelman&pid=197428928 Melvin Engelman obituary] Phillips died in Laguna Woods, California, in June 2022, at the age of 101. Her death was announced nearly a month later.{{cite web |title=Muriel Rose Engelman |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/muriel-engelman-obituary?id=35538744 |website=Legacy |access-date=5 July 2022}}
References
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Category:People from Meriden, Connecticut
Category:Military personnel from Connecticut
Category:Writers from Connecticut
Category:21st-century American women
Category:Female United States Army nurses in World War II