Captain Phillips , c. 1860 by Carrie Quinn

"America is the greatest country on earth!” I can still hear my father saying that, always with a catch in his voice. He was born at the beginning of the Great Depression and graduated from Military School just as World War II was ending. He joined the Illinois National Guard and obtained the rank of Captain, eventually retiring just short of twenty years of service. My dad was a man of convictions, who never wavered in his devotion to God and his country. It seemed fitting that I should name this patriotic collection after him, Captain William Evertson Phillips.