Gilbert Phillips was a local coal miner, son of William and Charlotte Phillips. The couple moved to Wales from the Forest of Dean and settled at 27 Central Avenue, Oakdale. He answered the call early on, enlisting in the elite 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, and proceeded overseas to arrive in France in August 1915.

At the tail end of July 1917, during the intense preparations for the massive Allied offensive in Flanders, his battalion was stationed on waterlogged, flooded ground surrounding Boesinghe Chateau north of Ypres. On 29 July, the battalion advanced to occupy the front-line trenches situated just west of the Yser Canal under relentless enemy shellfire.

Private G Phillips (1355) sustained fatal injuries in the line and died of wounds the following day on 30 July 1917, aged 23. He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinge, Belgium, a burial ground deliberately placed in close proximity to the cluster of front-line Casualty Clearing Stations. He is commemorated also on the regional Abertillery War Memorial.