"First Boots on the Ground" - William S. Phillips - Vietnam Aviation Art

William S. Phillips

“Aviation was my first artistic love,” says William S. Phillips, “but my true, enduring love remains my Christian faith, home and family. So it is my pleasure to combine all of it in my work. The historical aviation subjects, I research; the contemporary and nostalgic subjects, I live.”

Phillips grew up loving art but never thought he could make it his livelihood. At college he majored in criminology, and he had been accepted into law school when four of his paintings were sold at an airport restaurant. That was all the incentive he needed to begin his work as a fine art painter.

Bill Phillips is now the aviation artist of choice for many American heroes and the nostalgic landscape artist of choice for many collectors. Bill’s strengths as a landscape painter are what gave him an edge in the aviation field: respect and reverence for a time and place. When one sees his aviation pieces, thoughts are about the courageous individuals who risked their lives for our freedom. In Bill’s nostalgic works, the viewer understands fully what that freedom is... the precious values that make life worth living.

After one of his paintings was presented to King Hussein of Jordan, Phillips was commissioned by the Royal Jordanian Air Force. He developed sixteen major paintings, many of which now hang in the Royal Jordanian Air Force Museum in Amman. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum presented a one-man show of Phillips’ work in 1986; he is one of only a few artists to have been so honored.

In 1988, Phillips was chosen to be a U.S. Navy combat artist. For his outstanding work, the artist was awarded the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Award and the Air Force Sergeants Association’s Americanism Medal. In 1991, three of Phillips’ works were chosen as part of the top 100 in “Art for the Parks,” the prestigious annual fund-raiser for the National Park Service, and one painting received the “Art History Award” from the National Park Foundation.

William S. Phillips S/N Limited Edition Print "First Boots on the Ground"

November 14, 1965, the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, 10:48 am…As the dry season’s dust waifs skyward, the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry, 1st Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), deploy from UH-1 Hueys of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion onto Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley. Lt. Col. Hal Moore leads his men as they secure the area and prepare for the arrival of his main force, 450 soldiers strong. Before the day’s end, the men of the 7th Cavalry would engage over 2,000 North Vietnamese Army Regulars in the battle that would epitomize the savagery of the Vietnam War and the bravery of the men who fought it.