OKLAHOMA CITY — Phillip Coon, a World War II veteran from Oklahoma who received his Prisoner of War Medal and other honors last fall after a decades-long wait, has died. He was 95.
Coon, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, died Monday at St. Johns Hospital in Tulsa, according to Edwin Marshall, a spokesman for the tribe. Marshall said he did not know the cause of death but noted Coon’s age and a recent kidney infection.
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Coon survived a prisoner of war labor camp and was the last remaining Native American survivor of the Bataan Death March, where tens of thousands of soldiers were forced on a 65-mile trek by the Japanese military in the Philippines in 1942.
He traveled to Japan with his son in October and visited the site of the former POW camp in Kosaka next to a now-defunct copper mine where he was put to forced labor. Coon also met the mayor and other officials in Kosaka, in Japan’s northern prefecture of Akita, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. Japanese government officials apologized to Coon and other veterans over their treatment during the war.
After the trip, Coon received the Prisoner of War Medal, Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman Badge during an informal ceremony at Tulsa International Airport.
“I’ve been blessed to come this far in life,” Coon said at the time. “I thank the Lord for watching over me.”
Muscogee Creek Nation Principal Chief George Tiger said in a statement that the tribe has lost a hero.
“He always told me that he felt like he was able to overcome the Death March because of his faith and because he knew people back home were praying for him. He had a lot of things to say about life, about the Creek Nation,” Tiger said in the statement. “We were honored as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to have him as a tribal citizen. I think Indian Country was honored to have him being who he was.”
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