John Lewis Phillips and Beverly Jean Lyon were Binghamton, New York natives who wrote to each other throughout WWII while John was serving on the USS Blue Ridge.

John Lewis Phillips Jr. was born to John and Sabina Phillips in Niagara, New York on September 21, 1925. John Phillips Sr. was employed doing odd work in a shoe factory. By the time John Jr. was 4, the family was living in Binghamton, Broome County, New York. When John was 18 in 1943, he left school and joined the Navy to serve in WWII. He served on the USS Blue Ridge, an amphibious force flagship that was in the Western New Guinea campaign and the Philippines campaign. John was discharged on May 26, 1946.

Beverly Jean Lyon was born on September 19, 1926 in Johnson City, Broome County, New York to Harold L. and Wilhelmina Lyon. Harold was an office manager for a concrete contractor and later a chauffeur. Throughout WWII, Beverly worked at a bank.

John Phillips and Beverly Jean Lyon were married in the Binghamton First Presbyterian Church on June 11, 1949. John became a fireman and Beverly worked as a bookkeeper. They lived on Lydia Street in Binghamton throughout the 1950s. Beverly died in Binghamton in March 1979. John died November 14, 1991.