Local veterans donate RV to blind amputee

Six bullets to the head left Vietnam veteran Bob Phillips blind.

A staff infection 30 years later cost Phillips both of his legs.

Yet, even with the tragedies he's survived, the Bonners Ferry man is happy to be alive.

“I praise the Lord just about everyday,” Phillips said. “I am still trying to figure out why I am here.”

There is a bright side to this story. The Veterans of Foreign Wars in Bonners Ferry recently gave Phillips and his wife a recreational vehicle, where they plan to move come spring. Bob Phillips also is about to get new prosthetic legs.

Right now the couple lives in two connected mobile homes. The Phillips store their belongings in the recreational vehicle. They still hope to get a new mobile home.

“If things don't work out with a new house, we will live in there (the RV),” said Phillips' wife, Bonnie.

 Phillips in about two weeks will be fitted with his new “seeing” legs.

“That means they are computer legs,” he said. “I will be able to walk again.”

The prosthetics have sensors to let him know when he touches the floor and will assist him in walking while blind.

“It will be like a new born baby,” Phillips said. “I will have to start all over again.”

He lost his eyesight on July 19, 1965. He was shot in the head 2 1/2 months after arriving in Vietnam.

“I am glad I enlisted. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing,” said Phillips. “I've enjoyed life as a blind person. It gives you a better outlook on life.”

Phillips underwent 16 surgeries to try to restore his eyesight; the last one was in 1972. The left eye is gone and the right eye is there, but non-functioning.

Phillips got the staff infection MRSA in October 2006, which cost him both of his legs. He spent three months in the hospital and had more than seven surgeries.

“She (Bonnie) just about lost me, but I am a fighter,” Phillips said.

Phillips says his favorite part about walking again will be fishing. Even without legs, he still fishes at places where he can get to easily. His favorite are Cutthroat and Eastern Brook trout.

Phillips, who has been a veteran since 1968, has went rounds with the Veteran's Association.

“They don't care about the veterans,” he said.

The Veterans Association knew he had MRSA but didn't treat it right or let him know that he had it, claims Phillips.

“They put my family in jeopardy,” said Bonnie Phillips. “I will never take him back to a veteran's hospital.”

Even thought the Veterans Association is paying for Phillips prosthetic legs, he had to be taken to a private doctor.

“The Veterans of Foreign War and Blinded Veterans Affair have been very good to me,” said Phillips.

The VFW received the recreational vehicle from Erickson's RV in Coeur d' Alene, in 2007. 

The Phillips came to Bonners Ferry about four months ago from Sandpoint to live in the snow country.

“I have had 52 addresses since Vietnam and this is my favorite place,” said Bob Phillips. “The people here are so open and free.”

Upon returning from Vietnam, the Gwinn, Mich., native married and had five children, four of them girls. He then married Bonnie Phillips in 1981.

For a hobby, Phillips talks on amateur radios to people around the world and goes fishing. 

With this being an election year, he wishes we could have another Bush in office.

“He has done more for the veterans than any other President since Nixon and Roosevelt,” said Phillips. “The war in Iraq-I think he made a mistake for sending them over there. He has his foot in and now he can't get out.”

“We can't let them get away with what happened on 9/11,” he continued. “Wish I could be back fighting in the service. I believe in my freedoms even though we are losing them.”