Lt. Col.

Phillip Hood Connolly, USAF(Ret)

Phillip Hood Connolly of Bradenton, Florida, died Thursday, November 25, 2010 of
complications following surgery. He was 82.

Born in 1928 to Charles Robert and Nina Hood Brazelton Connolly of Chevy Chase, Maryland,
Phillip attended the US Military Academy at West Point. He obtained a USAF Reserve
Commission and served with the National Security Agency from 1951 until 1954, then went to
Headquarters Alaskan Command from 1955 to 1956; and then to the 6981st Radio Group from
1956 to 1957; then he returned to the National Security Agency and served until 1961. From
1961 to 1962 Phil was at the 6929th Radio Squadron in South Korea; and from 1962 until 1964
with the 6988th Security Squadron in Japan. Phil then served at Headquarters 8th Air Force
from1965 to 1967 and at Headquarters 551st Reconnaissance Wing from 1967 to 1968. He was
with the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing in Thailand from 1968 to 1969 and was awarded the Air
Medal for meritorious achievement beyond that normally expected while participating in aerial
flight. From 1970 to 1971 Phil served with the National Security Agency when he retired as a
Lieutenant Colonel. Following retirement from the USAF, he served for 12 years in the U.S.
Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

(this is the previous version:

He served for 22 years as an officer in the US Air Force, retiring with the rank of Lt. Col. His
tours of duty included postings to Alaska, Korea, Japan, and Thailand, and multiple assignments
at Ft. George G. Meade. Following retirement from the USAF in 1971, he served for 12 years in
the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. )

Phillip was married for 56 years to Sibyl Ann Ringquist, of Needham, Mass., who died in 2007.
He is survived by four sons: Michael, of Cambridge, MA; Stephen, of Baltimore, MD; Brian of
Bradenton, FL; and Christopher, of Barnstable, MA, and their families, which include two
grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

An avid reader, Phillip had a lifelong passion for U.S. military history and an encyclopedic
knowledge of Native American history, art, and culture. He was a founding member of the
National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. In retirement, he was a founding
board member of the Tingley Memorial Library on Anna Maria Island, FL, and remained a board
member until early 2008. He volunteered at the library until two weeks before his death.

Phillip passed from childhood to adulthood during WWII, which involved, among the usual
problems of teenagers, the social handicaps resulting from very tight rationing of tires and
gasoline which required creative solutions including double and triple dating, turning off the
ignition on hills and coasting, mixing dry-cleaning fluid with gasoline, using public
transportation and hitch-hiking.

His main hobby was reading, particularly historical novels like Kenneth Robertss Arundel and
Rabble in Arms. At 17, fascinated by Arnolds arduous march through the Maine and Quebec
wilderness to attack the French at walled city of Quebec, he and a friend hitch-hiked the
approximate route and back again in the waning days of WWII. The return trip involved dinner
with Canadian lumberjacks at their camp and being mistaken for escaped German prisoners of
war. The Germans had stolen khaki clothing off a clothes line and the armed station master at the
small train station at Moosehead Lake was sure the two young men asleep on a bench were the
escapees. They wore khaki and one had a typical German brush haircut; but as soon as they
spoke the station master knew he had been wrong.

Yes, reading and history were his favorite relaxation. He spent many hours browsing through
Brentanos bookstore, and when he skipped class he and a friend would go to the empty cafeteria
to read. He was probably learning more at such times than if he had gone to class, especially if
the subject was mathematics, which he disliked.

Books, history, sports, woods lore, love of country, strong friendship bonds; Phillip would
himself say he was far from a model of perfection, but his models were laudable and his devotion
to them was consistent and strong.

Lt. Col. Connolly will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in the spring of 2011. In lieu
of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Museum of the American
Indian in Washington, D.C.