Alfred Phillips was born on 4th February 1924 in the Paddington district of London and was the son of Alfred William and Bessie Hannah Kesiah (nee Varley) Phillips. When the 1939 Register was compiled he was living with his incapacitated father at Wantage, Berkshire and working as an under-gamekeeper. On later much later PoW questionaire ha gave his occupation as a chauffeur, at Wantage, Berkshire. He probably worked for the same estate in different roles. He enlisted into the RAF on 2nd March 1942. He married Gladys Ive Galliford in 1943 in the Cleveland district of North Yorkshire. As the flight engineer of Lancaster DS832 on the night of 16th / 17th December 1943 he is believed to have escaped the aircraft and landed without injury.
On the night of 27th / 28th April 1944 he was flying in Halifax LW592 with 432 Squadron when the aircraft failed to return from an operational flight on Montzen and is believed to have crashed near Sur-les-Bois, Belgium. Two were killed but he was made a PoW while four others evaded capture. He was captured on 2nd June 1944 in Belgium.
After the War he returned to live with his wife in the Dormanstown / Redcar area of North Yorkshire but died in Exmouth, Devon in November 1998.