Whenever local veterans gather for a ceremony or participate in a commemorative service for departed veterans, you’ll find Philip (Phil) C. S. Yin in the center of activities.

Yin collaborates with other veterans’ organizations and non-profits to work together to further the Marine Corps’ missions and goals in assisting veterans in need.

Yin, 78, earned the distinction last month as Department of Arizona Marine Corps League Marine of the Year 2019 at the state convention.

Yin has been described as a “Marine’s Marine.” In the nomination letter for Yin, Tait D. Elkie, former commander of Marine Corps Detachment 1439, said Yin exemplifies the characteristics and qualities that “we, as Marines, seek to uphold and advance in our detachments, communities, state and our country.

“Those characteristics and qualities include, but are not limited to, honor, faithfulness, truth, commitment and a desire to serve others.”

Yin founded Marine Corps League Detachment 1439 in 2016 with Herb Spohr.

Yin was drafted in 1965. At the induction center in Newark, N.J., he joined the Marine Corps. In a recent interview, Yin said he knew he would be going to Vietnam.

“I wanted to be trained the best so I chose to go into the Marine Corps,” he said.

He served as a MOS 0331 (machine gunner) with the 3/1 India Company and saw action in Vietnam during 1966 and 1967.

He was wounded by mortar fire and medevacked to a field hospital and then to Okinawa, where he was hospitalized for nine days before returning to the front lines.

A Purple Heart recipient, Yin’s military honors include the USN/USMC Presidential Unit Citation with Bronze Star, USMC Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service Medal with Bronze Star, RVN Wound Medal, RVN Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Combat Action and Expert Rifle and Pistol Badges.

He said he didn’t join any veterans’ organizations because of the public’s hostile reaction to returning Vietnam vets. It was not until after moving to Fountain Hills in 1999 that Sam Coffee invited him to join the American Legion.

His attitude changed.

“I see how the veterans have been treated and I wanted to give back as much as I can,” said Yin.

He would become All-State/All-American Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7507, commandant of the Marine Corps League Detachment 1439, executive committee board member of American Legion Post 58 and Color Guard director. He also is a board director of the Veterans Heritage Project and senior vice commander of Purple Heart Chapter 2560.

Early childhood

Born in China, Yin’s father was Consulate General for Nationalist China. The family lived from 1941 to 1949 in Al-Ma-Ta, Kazakhstan. Both Russian and Chinese were spoken in the household.

In 1949, when the Communists took over China, diplomatic relations between Nationalist China and the Soviet Union were severed. The Soviet Union recognized Communist China,

“We were given three months diplomatic immunity to leave,” he recalled. He was 8 years old; his brother, John, was seven years older.

Yin learned English in the United Kingdom before his parents bought a chicken egg farm in Lakewood, N.J.

Yin remembers waking at 5 a.m. daily to hand pick 2,000 eggs before school. After classes, he helped clean, candle and package the eggs.

At age 9, he got a job as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant to save enough money for a bicycle. He earned $5 a day for three days a week. He remained employed through grade school, high school and two years after graduating before heading to college. When he left as a cook, he was earning $150 a week.

Yin received his undergraduate degree in physics from Villanova University and his Ph.D. in materials science from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. His thesis was “Growth and Characterization of Gadolinium Gallium Garnet (Cd3Ga5O12) for Bubble Memory Application.”

Career

Yin’s professional career in the semi-conductor and compound industries spans more than 40 years. He has held research and development positions as well as sales and marketing jobs.

He jokingly says he has retired four times. Presently he is executive vice president, general manager and board director of Desert Silicon, Inc., based in Tempe, working part-time two or three days a week.

His first position was research scientist at IBM Watson Research Labs in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. His career would take him to Monsanto Electronics Materials Corp., Mitsubishi Silicon America, Advanced Materials, Inc., American Crystal Technology and Advanced Research Corp’s China operations.

Yin moved to Fountain Hills from Ohio in 1999 when ATMI Epitaxial Services recruited him to become president of two divisions.

The highlight of his career, he said, was presiding at NASDAQ’s closing bell ceremony on Wall Street on Aug. 6, 2006, including an interview by NASDAQ for its CEO series that was broadcasted internationally.

At the time, he was chief executive officer and chairman of the board of AXT, Inc., a leading producer of high-performance compound semiconductor substrates for the fiber optics and communications industries.

He holds three U.S. patents and has written five IBM technical disclosures and three trade journal publications.

Personal side

Yin met his wife, Debbie, when both were employed by Mitsushbi Silicon America. He was assigned to the California office; she worked in Oregon. They married in 1999.

Debbie has two sons and Phil has two daughters by previous marriages. Together, they have two great-grandchildren.

Yin won a gold medal for the 400 meter and a silver medal for 200 meter in track at the 1984 Senior Olympics (age 40-45 group).