Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

21, of Plant City, Fla.

assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Dec. 23 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

James R. Phillips couldn’t wait to return to his two great loves: his family and his car. His family couldn’t wait for him to get back, either, postponing celebrations for Christmas and Thanksgiving. “You’re not going to miss out on anything,” his mother told him. “He went from baby to boy to Marine,” said Ronald Tew, a lifelong friend. “Everyone loved him. He will be missed.” Phillips graduated high school in 2001 and his father said he loved to fish, hunt, ride four-wheelers and work on his car _ a poppy orange 1965 Ford Mustang. Rachel Cundiff, a friend of Phillips’ since both were eighth-graders, said he was always upbeat and would shower her with kind words that brightened her day. “He was an awesome person to be around,” she said. Phillips is survived by his parents, Mike and Lisa. Next Christmas, the Phillipses said they will put up a tree and ornaments to celebrate James’ life.

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