George "Junior O'Brien" Phillips, a Private serving with the Second Battalion, Twenty-eighth Marines, Fifth Marine Division, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during the seizure of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands on 14 March 1945. After a night of bitter hand-grenade fighting against infiltrating Japanese groups, he stood foxhole watch while other members of his squad rested. When an enemy hand grenade was tossed into their midst, he was the only member of his unit alerted. He instantly shouted a warning and threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the explosion in his own body and protecting his comrades from serious injury. He gave his life so that his fellow Marines might continue the battle.