Texas Lottery Veteran Recognition: Joe McPhail

Joe McPhail loved flying airplanes, and he said, "I knew my only chance to fly was to go into the service and be on active duty." He was commissioned into active service on Dec. 4, 1941, and the attack at Pearl Harbor happened three days later.

"I didn't realize we were going to be involved in a war. I don't know that anybody did," McPhail said. "I knew I had to stay in to get the job done."

McPhail earned his pilot's wings in October 1942 and eventually flew 240 combat missions as part of Marine Fighting Squadrons in Japan and Korea. He shot down two Japanese enemy aircraft and survived an emergency water landing in the stormy seas off the island coasts of Japan.

McPhail's first deployment was in American Samoa, where he primarily conducted patrol missions to locate Japanese ships in the Pacific Ocean. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for his second deployment, and the nature of his involvement escalated quickly because he said Japanese military were seeking to retake the island. On his first flight in April 1945, McPhail spotted four Japanese aircraft and secured the takedown of one.

"We were supporting the troops on the ground when we could and patrolling also," McPhail said.

During this same deployment with the VMF-441 squadron, McPhail was towing a target practice banner in support of other fighter pilots who were combat training. To get the banner in the air and make the airplane lighter, McPhail had to use less fuel. So, on their return flight, McPhail ran out of fuel and landed in the water about 20 miles from the shore.

"They went in, landed, refueled, and came back searching for me and pointed out to the patrol boat where I was," McPhail said. "It was a hairy operation. The weather was bad and I had a hard time getting in the raft. I was only in the water for about three hours. It took them that long to find me and pick me up – the ocean is awful big and the raft is awful small. It's hard to find from planes."

At the war's end, McPhail returned to Texas and completed his college degree at SMU in Dallas, where he studied business and accounting. He worked an office job as an accountant for a Ford dealership in Tyler, Texas, and in August 1950, McPhail was called back into active service to fly missions during the conflict in Korea.

During two wars, McPhail logged about 4,000 flight hours, all primarily in single-seat airplanes. He separated from active duty in 1955, but McPhail remained in the reserves for several more decades as a "weekend warrior" training monthly at the Dallas Naval Air Station and retired as a colonel in 1981.

He continued his love for flying as a corporate pilot for a gas transmission company. Eventually serving as the company's chief pilot, with a fleet of five airplanes, McPhail gained more than 13,000 flight hours in corporate jets.

"Flying was fun for me," McPhail said. "That helped me as I did the job, which had to be done."

Thanks to the Texas Lottery, great things are happening all across Texas. The Texas Lottery now consistently contributes more than $1.9 billion of lottery revenue each year to good causes like public education and veterans' assistance programs. Beginning with the first veterans' dedicated scratch ticket game in 2009, the Texas Lottery has now contributed over $224 million to the Fund for Veterans' Assistance. 

Since 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated more than $38 billion in revenue for the state of Texas. Through strict adherence to their vision, mission and core values, the Texas Lottery is dedicated to ensuring that this support continues. 

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