2024 Phillips Area Hometown Heroes
The Hometown Hero project allows the Phillips Community to show our support and appreciation to all of the local servicemen who have served in the armed forces.
Military Banners will be displayed on 17 light poles along Main Street. Each banner will include a photo of the veteran, name and branch of military served. Banners will be displayed for one season from Memorial Day through Veterans Day.
To sponsor a veteran for the Hometown Heroes Project, applications can be printed or picked up at the Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce Office or you can email chamber@phillipswisconsin.net with inquires.
Reubin Schmidt
Army 970 Engineer Maint. Co.- Rank: Tech Sergeant - Jan 1946-March 1947
George M. Dunbar
Navy & Army - Rank: E-5 - 1992-2000
Danny Lee Pepprock
Army - Rank: E-4 - 1967-1968 Vietnam
Matthew Blake Anderson
Marine Corps - Rank: Cpl - Operation Iraq Freedom 2005-2011
At eighteen, he enlisted in the Marine Corps as a radio specialist, serving in boot camp at Camp Lejeune and deployments to Kuwait, Okinawa, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Al Asad, Iraq. There he survived a harrowing plane malfunction and earned the enduring nickname “Brother” from the diverse Marines he supported—treating wounded comrades under fire and even joking about desert “Burger King” camel spiders to lift spirits.
Robert Habel
Army - Rank: Spec 4 - 1971-1973
Ken Cork
Navy - Rank: E-4 - Vietnam Era
Eugene Kerner
Army - Rank: Corporal (T) - Jan 1962-Dec 1963
Robert Hynek
Army - Rank: Staff Sergeant - 1945-1947
Robert joined the Army in 1945 after graduating from Phillips High School that same year. He trained at Camp Lee, Virginia.
Ernest G. Link
Army Infantry 95th Div. - Rank: Staff Sargeant - WWII
In 1995 Ernest “Ernie” Link, returned to France for the 50th Anniversary of the liberation of Metz, where he had fought during WWII. Inspired by the trip, he wrote a memoir titled On The Line, Memoirs of a GI, dedicating it to his fellow combat infantrymen with a quote from John 15:13: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Ernie was born on Link Road in the Town of Harmony, named after his grandfather, a homesteader from 1894. He enlisted in the Army in 1944 and was assigned to “I” Company, 3rd Battalion, 377th Regiment, 95th Division under General Patton. In battle, he was wounded by a German sniper and treated by medic Joseph “Doc” Kucaba Jr. from nearby Catawba. Though they hadn’t met before, they quickly bonded and served over 100 days on the front lines together. The war deeply affected Ernie, who never hunted again after returning home.
Ernie and Doc remained close, with Doc serving as Best Man at Ernie’s wedding in 1950. Decades later, Ernie’s son John would unknowingly go deer hunting with Doc’s nephews and great-nephew, continuing the Kucaba-Link connection.
To receive a free digital copy of On The Line, Memoirs of a GI, email jelink@netnet.net.
Joseph "Doc" Kucaba
Army Infantry 95th Div. - Rank: TEC4 Medic - WWII
Joe Kucaba was drafted in May 1942 from the farm in Harmony (Catawba, WI) to train as a Surgical Technician/Army Medic. He performed his duties selflessly under constant threat of enemy gunfire. Following training, Joe was assigned to the 377th Regimental Medical Detachment, 95th Division, part of General Patton’s Third Army in France in August 9, 1944. During the Battle of Metz he witnessed high casualties (I Company suffered 87.5% losses in two weeks). Joe struck up a conversation with the GI lying on a nearby mattress. As they exchanged information, they came to realize that both were from the Town of Harmony, Price County, WI. The GI was Ernest “Ernie” Link, from Phillips, a man whose family farm was about 10 miles from the Kucaba farm. In November 20, 1944—Ernie was wounded twice; Joe’s care saved him from potentially fatal injuries. The European conflict ended May 8, 1945 and Joe returned home on a 30-day furlough and was prepared for the Pacific when victory over Japan was won on August 15, 1945. He was then discharged on October 6, 1945, in Shelby, Mississippi.
Walter "Van" Palka
Army - Rank: Private 1st Class - WWII 1942-1945. Married in Phillips in 1947 and permanent resident from 1990 to 2009. Buried in Emery Cemetery. Drafted in Army in 1942, boot camp in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Served as a Private 1 st class, 788 th Military Police Battalion, Company D. Stationed in Tehran, Iran. One of the main jobs was checking railroad car at ammunition depot supply line to Russia. Discharged December 1945
Otto E. Vyskocil
Navy - Rank: 2nd class - 1952-1956 Korean War
James Charbonneau
National Guard & Army - Rank: Cpl & PFC - 1951-1956
Harold Dunbar
Navy - 1947-1950 Korea
Fred Staroba
45th Infantry - Rank: Sgt. Inf Armored Force - Tank battalion 4 years
Ludwig "Laddie" Habel
Navy - Rank: Pharmacist Mate 1st Class - 1943-1945
John Johnson
Army - Rank: PFC - Feb 1954-Jan 1956
Wallace Wyrzykowski
Army - Rank: Tec 5 - WWII 1941-1945
Mark Janko
Army Desert Storm - Rank: Sergeant- 1990-2001
David Pipkorn
Coast Guard - Rank: Commander - 2007 to present
Gerald W. Schleife
Army 760th Field Artillery - Rank: Tech 4 Seargant - WWII 1942-1945
Bryan Vergin
Army - Rank: Specialist 4th Class - Nov 1970-1972
Frank Pisca
Navy -4 Battle Stars; Normandy Invasion (D-Day); Invasion of Southern France at Toulon; IWO Jima; Okinawa. April 1942-Nov 1945. On USS Arkansas Sept 1942-Nov 1945
Matthew Timmers
Army - Rank: Private 1st Class - Korean War 1954-1956
Brian Janko
US Marine Corp Desert Storm - Sergeant - 1988-2004
Doug Rasmussen
Army
