Shifty Powers has passed away

[wuluf]

He passed in June and I received this email today:



We're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services. I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell "Shifty" Powers.

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't
know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle", the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat. Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made. Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 . . . " at which point my heart skipped. At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you
know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.
I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said "Yes. And it's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach. He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy.." His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this. Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center .

No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

And that's not right.

Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.

Rest in peace, Shifty.

"A nation without heroes is nothing."
Roberto Clemente





Nickname Shifty Place of birth Clinchco, Virginia Place of death Dickenson County, Virginia, 17 June 2009 (aged 86) Years of service 1942-1945 Rank Staff Sergeant Unit E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (United States), 101st Airborne Division Awards
-Presidential Unit Citation
-European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
-World War II Victory Medal

 

[Crazy K38]

RIP for a great hero, we are forever in his debt

 

[handejector]

Thanks, Shifty.

Godspeed to all our Vets.

Shifty's unit was the 506th PIR- Parachute Infantry Regiment.

 

[tabs]

On August 6, 2006 I got to meet Paul Tibbets and Dutch Van Kirk. I wound up talking to General Tibbets for about 20 minutes and had him autograph and date his book. The one thing that I will always remember is that he said he felt relief after dropping the bomb on Hiroshima, that nothing went wrong on the mission. Early in 2007 General Tibbets passed away.

 

[jbouwens]

Thank you dose'nt begin to state how I feel for the heros of our nation.

RIP Shifty and enjoy catching up with the fellas in heaven!!!!!

 

[tabs]

As a kid growing up nealry every Dad on the block served in WW2. Nobody seemed to think it was anthing special, they were just our Dads. Nobody even talked about it, for them it was just a memory that was best forgotten.

Later in life I had 2 older friends that were in the 8th AF. One was a B-24 Bomber Pilot who flew 10 missions over Germany. On the 10th his rear gunner was hit and blown apart? He cracked and was reassign to training pilots in CA. He was one of my best gun buddies. The other was a P-51 pilot that flew in the same group as Chuck Yeager. He said that one day he was ordered to take off into the fog, he refused. All the pilots who did take off never came back. Another time he said he was over France when he saw the engine of a P-51 fall off. He said that he never wanted to fly lead pilot but always remained a wingman, because he said he never would count on anyone sticking with him, but that he knew he would stick to his flight leader. Later on Paul was the co founder of the Fuller Seminary Graduate School of Psychology.

Amother old timer I talked to saw McArthur land in the Philiphines, he said that he saw him do it 3 times to get the motion pictures right. he also said that he saw a downed Japanese bomber that had Goodyear tires on it along with Pratt and Whitney engines.

My Dads first cousin served in the same PT Boat squadron in the Solomon Islands as JFK. He said they lived in the same Quonset Hut. I asked him about JFK and his stoic response was that JFK was an unusal indivdual who had already written a best seller. That while all the other guys were braging about the women they had been with, JFK remained silent. Later JFK as a Senator helped my Dads first cousin keep his jobin the Tank Arsenal Plant in Detroit because he was accused of being a Red. JFK said this man served his country with distinction during WW2. Today his son has his Machete with the signatures of all the members of that PT Boat squadron. My Dads cousin was active in the PT Boat squadron assocaition till he passed away.

 

[Crazy K38]

that is some amazing history,, thanks for sharing

 

[LESMITH]

My Dad was a SeaBee and served in the Pacific during the war. My uncle was in the Navy and piloted a landing craft in the Pacific. Another uncle was in the Air Force during the war. Another uncle was in the Navy in the Pacific. All of those men and women of that generation were heroes and I am sad to see them fade away. All of them but for one uncle have gone.

 

[perpster]

RIP Shifty.
Thanks for posting that Wuluf.

 

[tabs]

I guess the point of what I am saying is that these guys didn't think of themselves as heros. They had a job to do and sometimes it got dirty. For the most part none of them talked about what they did or saw. They wanted to put it into their past and to carry on with their lives.

 

[USAF385]

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center .

No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

And that's not right.

I don't think he would have minded. One doesn't serve for parades or fame.

Thank you for your service, Shifty.

 

[imjin138]

Thank you for your service, and may God bless you.

 

[DelavanKs]

Thank you Shifty
Rest in Peace and enjoy you visit with your comrades
Chuck

 

[Ted E Bear]

R.I.P. Shifty

 

[woodsltc]

God bless you Shifty.....................thank you for your service and sacrifice for our freedom.

Don

 

[Oddball]

Thank you Shifty. My father was an aircraft mechanic during that time. Sometimes I wonder if I would have had the courage to do what those veterans did.

 

[Davwingman]

Thanks Shifty for the service you & your comrades gave us. Yours was truly the greatest generation!

 

[Indiana George]

Thank you, Shifty. Rest gently now.

 

[pawncop]

God bless you Shifty, and look up my Dad up there. Tech Sgt. Clyde Ray, master control gunner on the "Honsu Hurricane" B-29. Pacific theatre.