Pte ​Phillip Hewett

Private Phillip Dale Rimes Hewett of 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, died from injuries sustained in hostile action on 16 July 2005, in Maysaan province, Iraq.

Service Number: 25155276

He was born on 11 August 1983 and was aged 21.

He is laid to rest in Wiggington Cemetery, Tamworth.  Plot 10335A.


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MOD Statement:

Private Phillip Hewett of 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, died from injuries sustained in hostile action on 16 July 2005, in Maysaan province, Iraq.

A patrol of three armoured Snatch Land-Rovers, in Al Amarah, was engaged by an Improvised Explosive Device in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The patrol commander Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer and his top cover sentry Private Leon Spicer were killed instantly. The driver, Private Phillip Hewett, died of his wounds at the scene whilst receiving first aid from members of the patrol.
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In a statement, Commanding Officer of the Staffordshire Regiment, Lt Col Andrew Williams, said: “The Regiment has always been a family to the soldiers that serve in it, and never more so than when deployed on complex and challenging operations such as these. The loss of 2Lt Rich Shearer, Pte Leon Spicer and Pte Phillip Hewett will be felt very deeply by all the soldiers of the Staffordshire Regiment and indeed the soldiers of Task Force Maysan. Private Hewett, aged 21, from Tamworth, was Second Lieutenant Shearer’s driver - a respected position of enormous responsibility only given to the best of senior soldiers. He was skilled as a driver of both Land-Rovers and Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles and had been with the platoon since arriving in the 1st Battalion three years ago. A cheerful and intelligent young man with a natural air of confidence, Phillip had worked with the Platoon throughout the build-up to the deployment to Iraq and was a well established member of a very close team. His lively nature ensured he was always popular and despite just returning to Iraq from leave in England he was full of good humour and stories. Private Hewett had marked himself as having a sound future in the army and had been selected to attend a promotional course in the winter. Exceptionally fit, he was also short-listed to become a Physical Training Instructor."