Who? Lanier Phillips was a pioneer, the first black sonar technician in the U.S. Navy in an era where blacks were generally restricted to shining shoes for the officers et. al. What changed his life? An icy encounter with a bunch of Canadians.
I can see why Navy vet Jeff Edwards was mesmerized by this tale. Now you can, too. As Blackfive likes to put it, Lanier Phillips is "someone you should know."
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The people who thawed out Mr. Phillips were not Canadians, They were British, Newfoundland and Labrador didn't become part of Canada until 1949.
They were not British, they were Newfoundlanders. Newfoundland was a country at the time, not a British colony. Not to take away from Lanier's story though. The entire incident is the subjct of Cassie Brown's book "Standing into Danger"